Inter Milan will hope to go one better than they did two years ago and win the UEFA Champions League final.
Simone Inzaghi's team were beaten 1-0 by Manchester City in Istanbul in 2023. On Saturday, they will face Paris Saint-Germain in Munich for the right to lift the most prestigious trophy in European club football.
One of the most storied clubs in Italy, Inter are 20-time Serie A champions and have been crowned kings of Europe on three occasions. The last of those was in 2010, when they made history by becoming the first Italian side to win the treble of Serie A, Coppa Italia and Champions League trophies.
It was a victory that ended in jubilation but also tears for the Nerazzurri and coach Jose Mourinho.
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When is the last time Inter Milan won the Champions League?
Inter won consecutive European Cups under legendary coach Helenio Herrera in 1964 and 1965. Fans had to wait 45 years until they conquered Europe again.
The Nerazzurri began 2009/10 as Serie A champions after Mourinho delivered the Scudetto in his first season in charge, but there was not exactly universal approval among supporters, some of whom were not entirely won over by Mourinho's methods when compared to those of predecessor Roberto Mancini.
It didn't help when Mourinho himself said he'd be interested in taking over from Sir Alex Ferguson at Manchester United, the team that eliminated Inter from Europe the season before.
Mourinho would, of course, become United manager, but not for another seven years. Instead, he oversaw a critical transfer window in the summer of 2009: out went Adriano and the retiring Luis Figo, along with Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who made an ill-fated switch to Barcelona; in came Diego Milito, Thiago Motta, Wesley Sneijder, and Samuel Eto'o, the latter joining as part of the Ibrahimovic deal. Each of them became pivotal to what was to come.
After an inauspicious start to the season, this new-look Inter began to click. A formidable defence featuring Maicon, Lucio, Walter Samuel and Marco Materazzi was screened by club legend Javier Zanetti (now operating as a midfielder as well as a full-back), Esteban Cambiasso and Dejan Stankovic, making Inter seriously difficult to defeat. In attack, Sneijder was the roving No. 10 behind lethal forwards Eto'o, Milito and the versatile Goran Pandev. This was a side with experience, imperious physical strength, tactical flexibility and ruthlessness in front of goal. They were a match for anybody.
Inter won the Scudetto again on the final day of the season, finishing two points above Roma. They also beat the Giallorossi in the Coppa Italia final through a single Milito goal. But it was the Champions League they wanted more than anything.
After finishing second to holders Barcelona in their group, Mourinho masterminded a last-16 win over old club Chelsea before a quarterfinal victory against surprise package CSKA Moscow. Barca lay in wait in the semis. In the first leg, Mourinho delivered a masterclass, setting his team up to contain Lionel Messi in what he later described as a "cage" — Samuel, Zanetti, Cambiasso and Pandev controlled Inter's left flank to deny Messi any space in which to operate — while exploiting them on the counter-attack. Sneijder, Maicon and Milito all scored after Pedro's opener to take control of the tie.
Ahead of the second leg, Mourinho turned on the mind games, telling a press conference that Barca had "an obsession" with reaching a final that would be staged at the home of arch-rivals Real Madrid. The comments teed up an ill-tempered battle at Camp Nou that swung Barca's way when Motta was harshly sent off for raising a hand to Sergio Busquets. Inter responded by dropping deep to protect Julio Cesar's goal; what followed was a masterful defensive performance, with Barca limited to just seven shots on target despite having 76 per cent of the ball. Gerard Pique got a late goal after being thrown forward as an auxiliary striker, but it wasn't enough. At the final whistle, Mourinho sprinted onto the pitch, his arm raised in celebration.
On this day in 2010, Jose Mourinho provided one of his most iconic moments after beating Barcelona at Camp Nou 👆
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 28, 2021
(via @UEFAcom_de)https://t.co/OB6UXu3g6J
The final at the Santiago Bernabeu pitted Inter against Louis van Gaal's Bayern Munich, who were also chasing a treble. Once again, this was Mourinho at his very best: setting up a team that would give everything for the cause, and in such a way that it seemed as though he already knew exactly how the match would play out.
Milito broke the deadlock in the 35th minute after Sneijder teed up the Argentine. Midway through the second half, he got his second of the game with a terrific solo effort that left Daniel Van Buyten bamboozled. Bayern seemed to know they were beaten, even with 20 minutes left to play.
Inter's victory saw them become the first Italian side to win the treble and made Mourinho just the third man to win the Champions League as the manager of two different clubs, after Ernst Happel and Ottmar Hitzfeld (Jupp Heynckes, Carlo Ancelotti and Pep Guardiola have done so since). Mourinho embraced Van Gaal, his mentor back in his days at Barcelona, before saluting the Inter fans — most of whom already knew he was about to leave for the Real Madrid job.
On this day, in 2010, Inter Milan won their first Champions League since 1965, beating Bayern Munich 2-0 at the Santiago Bernabéu.
— Football Tweet ⚽ (@Football__Tweet) May 22, 2021
The trophy sealed a historic treble for Inter that season, which is still, arguably, José Mourinho's greatest ever year in management. 🏆 pic.twitter.com/tR5ca6QxtT
The players did, too. Materazzi was filmed sobbing into Mourinho's arms after the post-game celebrations. Zanetti, who was in tears at the final whistle, said in later years that Mourinho "convinced us with actions, not words" that they could do something special. He added: "In every press conference, he was convinced we were going to win everything. The crazy thing is, he said that three months before the campaign ended, not three weeks. His confidence gave us wings."