Photo by Piero Cruciatti/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images

On to Istanbul Inter is in a Champions League final. What a sentence. The Nerazzurri?s 2022/23 season has been one heck of a ride and it will end in Istanbul, something just about none of us expected back in August. Simone Inzaghi?s men glided past Milan 3-0 on aggregate with a happily uneventful 1-0 victory in the second leg, headlined by a Lautaro Martinez strike 74 minutes in. Not too much happened before that, and not too much happened after, which fit perfectly with Inter?s plans. And now, onto the final.
Starting XIs

Inter?s XI (3-5-2)

Milan?s XI (4-2-3-1)

Simone Inzaghi kept everything the same from leg one, but Milan made three changes with Junior Messias, Malick Thiaw, and Rafael Leao into the starting eleven. First Half
Milan came out of the gates much improved from leg 1 and came close to a breakthrough on a number of occasions in the opening stages. In the 5th minute, Theo Hernandez sent a long-range rocket whizzing over the bar with Andre Onana frozen. Brahim Diaz came even closer in the 11th minute, but his effort from the center of the box to the corner of the goal was snagged by an outstretched Onana. Inter began to insert itself into proceedings as the game wore on, but Milan had the next golden opportunity in the 38th minute after Rafael Leao spun Francesco Acerbi in the box only to pull his final effort just wide of the far post....