Ataturk Olympic Stadium hosts the last two teams standing in UEFA’s premier club competition. The qualification round, the group stages, Round of 16, quarters, and semi-finals are all behind us. Will Manchester sky blue be celebrating come Saturday evening or will it will magnificent in Milan?

The Champions League odds dictate that City are heavy -243 favourites to Inter’s +592. A draw is +353. Should the score be tied after 90 minutes, two 15-minute extra-time periods would be played and, if needed, penalty kicks.

Manchester City vs Inter Milan Betting Analysis

City are looking for their first ever title in this competition. They came achingly close two years ago, reaching the final but falling to Premier League club Chelsea of all opponents.

As for Inter, their history in the competition is much richer, having hoisted it, or previous iterations, a total of three times. They were back-to-back winner in 1964-65. The most recent win came several decades later in 2010 when they were led by Jose Mourinho. They defeated Bayern Munich 2-0 in the final that year.

Of note, there is no historical data regarding Manchester City-Inter Milan head-to-head matches. Quite the occasion for two franchises to meet for the very first time, with club football’s most prestigious trophy up for grabs.

Manchester City

At this time last week we were previewing the FA Cup final versus Manchester United, arguing that the Red Devils would do everything in their power to prevent City from taking one more step towards a historic treble. It didn’t happen.

The game was relatively close, and arguably not the sort that some fans were expecting. For all the firepower Pep Guardiola’s side possesses, they didn’t create nearly as many chances as they normally do. The irony was that despite being largely nullified by United, they caught their rivals off guard in the opening 60 seconds A long goal kick – something City don’t do much of -eventually allowed Ilkay Gundogan to fire home a wonder strike that David de Gea had no hope of saving. Bruno Fernandes levelled the terms from the spot in the 33^rd minute after what was admittedly a strange handball call on Jack Grealish.

Gundogan’s brilliant end of the season – and possibly end of his time at City – continued in the 51^st minute has he hit a semi-volley from outside the box that surprisingly bounced off no one despite the crowded area. Make the final 2-1 to City. Premier League? Check. FA Cup? Check. On to Istanbul.

Beware Erling Haaland. He hasn’t scored since May 14.

Inter Milan

A few things need to be made perfectly regarding City’s opponents in the final. This isn’t some push over side that magically found its way to Ataturk Olympic Stadium.

For one, should they pull off the upset, they’ll have accomplished a double in 2022-2023, having won the Copa Italia a few weeks ago. Second, their journey to get this far was paved with threats too. AC Milan was a special opponent to face in the semi-final and Inter handled the tie marvellously. Lastly, and this is the clincher, Simone Inzaghi’s ensemble only lost once in its last 13 games. In fact, they’ve won 11 of those 13. Only Napoli, Serie A champions, vanquished them in recent weeks. Romelu Lukaku has found his form, Lautaro Martinez is having a fantastic year, Edin Dzeko remains a threat in the box, and the midfield sports a lot more gusto and moxie than they get credit for.

Manchester City are such behemoths that it feels as though they should win, but Inter will not go down without a proper fight.

Champions League Prediction:

Manchester City 2-1 Inter Milan