Manchester City vs Internazionale – Football Match Preview – September 18, 2024

MANCHESTER, England, Sept 17 (Reuters) – Inter Milan coach Simone Inzaghi does not view Wednesday’s Champions League match at Manchester City as a repeat of last year’s final.

The Serie A winners lost 1-0 to Pep Guardiola’s team in the 2023 final, but Inzaghi is adamant that the changes to the Champions League format and the fact that there is much less riding on the result will make this final very different to the last meeting.

“A new Champions League starts tomorrow, it will be completely different,” said the Inter boss at a press conference on Tuesday.

“I watched (the final) again a month ago when we were in training camp. I don’t think it’s a rematch because it’s not a final, it’s a group match in the new Champions League format.”

Inzaghi was excited about the changes in the format, as clubs will now play eight games in a 36-team league phase instead of the previous group stage.

However, he said he was also aware of the strain the players would face due to the number of games they would now have to play after City midfielder Rodri said the players were on the verge of going on strike.

“We know that you play a lot and we coaches are aware of that. I can say that preparing for these games is nice and exciting for a coach.”

“I know there are problems, but we are committed to progressing. I will have to replace as many players as possible. Today we have to do without (Federico) Dimarco and (Marko) Arnautovic, but we have been used to having a sometimes limited rotation for two years.”

The manager added that he was pushing his team to be aggressive and determined as City had not lost a home game in the competition since 2018.

“We’re going to need a lot of components to get a good fit,” he said. (Reporting by Angelica Medina in Mexico City, editing by Toby Davis)