‘The Real Inter’ Set For Champions League Clash With Barcelona

The Inter team that lined up to face Verona on Saturday was so heavily rotated it even included a back-up manager. Their first-choice boss Simone Inzaghi was technically suspended, but seeing his assistant Massimiliano Farris trot out for the pre-game interview only reinforced a feeling that we were not about to watch the real thing.

For months, Inter had tried to compete at full focus on every front, Inzaghi speaking of the ambition to win a quadruple. Then they lost three games in a week, falling behind Napoli at the top of Serie A and suffering elimination from the Coppa Italia by neighbours Milan. Suddenly their most ambitious target, the Champions League, looked like it might be their most realistic shot at claiming any silverware.

All the club’s eggs are not yet in one basket – Napoli may yet slip, and the Club World Cup doesn’t start for another five weeks – but the selection to face Verona was a clear statement of Inter’s priorities. Only one player, Yann Bisseck, who started the 3-3 draw away to Barcelona in last Wednesday’s Champions League semi-final first leg kept his starting spot.

The replacements performed their duties just fine. Inter won a seventh-minute penalty after Nicolás Valentini blocked Marko Arnautovic’s flick with his arm. Kristjan Asllani converted and, just like that, the game was won. Inter’s second string lacked the craft to carve out further chances but they made sure a limited Verona never saw the ball long enough to create a threat.

Torino 1-1 Venezia, Cagliari 1-2 Udinese, Parma 0-1 Como, Lecce 0-1 Napoli, Inter 1-0 Verona, Empoli 0-1 Lazio, Monza 0-4 Atalanta, Roma 1-0 Fiorentina, Bologna 1-1 Juventus. Monday: Genoa v Milan (7.45pm)

It finished 1-0, a welcome result for Inter after their catastrophic end to April – even if it might feel like too little, too late. Napoli had already won away at Lecce on Saturday, retaining their three-point buffer at the top with three games left.

At full-time, one journalist asked Farris whether some people might consider this a negative season for Inter even if they win the Champions League. He responded that he would probably just give a person like that a polite smile, leaving us to imagine the rejoinder he might have wished to add: “because a person who thinks that is obviously bonkers”.

As much as Inter wanted, and believed they could, win every competition they entered this season, the Champions League has always been the trophy they desire most. No Italian team has won it since they last did, under Jose Mourinho 15 years ago. Inter’s run to the final two years ago only deepened their hunger.

In Inzaghi’s mind they are already back on that stage. “The final won’t be played in Munich,” he said last week, “but at San Siro on Tuesday”.

Despite twice letting a lead slip, his team came away from the draw in Barcelona with renewed belief. They stood toe-to-toe with opponents who have scored 150 goals this season and proved they were capable of trading blows.

“Inter c’è,” said Alessandro Bastoni – Inter are here, still alive and kicking. Denzel Dumfries couldn’t stop talking about how this was “la Inter vera” – the real one, not the pale imitation we had seen for the previous week. La Gazzetta dello Sport called them “Stellar”.

The only thing dampening their enthusiasm was concern over the hamstring injury that forced the captain, Lautaro Martínez, off at half-time. The Argentinian has had a fascinating season – less prolific than we have come to expect in Serie A, but consistently decisive in Europe, where he has not always been so effective in the past. He has scored a goal for every 87 minutes he has been on the pitch in this Champions League.

Before the first leg, Inter’s greatest selection concern surrounded Marcus Thuram, who has struggled to shake off a string of niggling injuries in 2025. He wound up starting, and scoring an audacious heel flick within 30 seconds of kick-off at Montjuïc. “When you get to this point of the season, nobody is 100%,” said the Frenchman. “It’s hard for everyone, Barcelona too. But these are matches you have to play even if you’re not at 100%.”

Lautaro appears to be of the same mind. He posted to Instagram with a photo of himself performing a pull-up accompanied by battery and hourglass emojis. He is expected to train with teammates on Monday and several Italian outlets have already reported he will start on Tuesday. Not every return from injury, though, goes as well as Thuram’s. The fear is that Lautaro’s desperation to play may run ahead of his body’s capability to heal.

Inter’s chances of beating Barcelona will certainly be less if he is absent or even below his best. Inzaghi noted the difference in depth between his squad and Hansi Flick’s after the first leg. In attack, especially, Inter have struggled when their starters are missing. Mehdi Taremi has scored three goals in 39 appearances in all competitions. Marko Arnautovic has seven in 26.

Is it now or never for this group? Inter have fielded the oldest starting XIs in both Serie A and the Champions League this season. There is a core that could be rebuilt around – Bastoni, Lautaro, Thuram, Nicolò Barella and Federico Dimarco – but a couple of the team’s most reliable, relied-upon players – Francesco Acerbi and Henrikh Mkhitaryan – are into the second half of their 30s.

There is a shared sense of self-belief, earned in part from the fact that so many of these players have been here and done this before. That courage to keep attacking even after conceding weighty goals in places like Barcelona and Munich has made supporters love this team even more.

To reach a second Champions League final in three years, even so, remains a tall task. “We went against all odds to play a great game in Barcelona,” said Farris, speaking for Inzaghi, on Saturday night. “Now we need to do it again on Tuesday.”

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