Inter Milan wants to win the UEFA Champions League. They are no strangers to this desire which is shared by every other team that competes in the tournament every season.
At the end of each season, however, it is one of the usual six suspects that comes out on top. The days of the underdog were thought to be long gone, until last season.
The Nerazzurri outplayed and outfought several favorites – on paper – last season to reach the final where they lost to a former underdog, Manchester City.
This season, Inter are replaying the scenes. Can they finish their story?
We take a look at their chances of going all the way in the current edition of the competition.
Inter Milan in 2022/23 vs Inter Milan in 2023/24
Right now, all focus is on the return leg of the round of 16 clash between Atlético de Madrid and Inter Milan on 13 March 2024.
The match will take place at the Civitas Metropolitano in Madrid, Spain. Inter will go to Los Rojiblancos’ home with a one-goal advantage and hope that their defence is enough to hold off the three-time finalists in front of their ever-passionate fans.
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Inter Milan earned two points more than they did last season at the end of this season’s group stages. They finished with 10 points last season and finished with 12 this season. That shows a marked improvement in their football and an intention to do better than they did last season. They also finished with a similar goal difference (+3).
They were then drawn against FC Porto in the round of 16 last season. The first leg of that game ended similarly to how their first leg outing against Atlético did: a 1 – 0 win at the San Siro. Inter would go on to claim a goalless draw at Estádio do Dragão and move on to the next round of the competition.
Porto have won the competition in the past, but they are no Atléti. This makes the return leg of this clash a lot trickier. Inter, however, are flying this season. They have already won a trophy and are about to reclaim the Scudetto from Napoli. A possible treble is in their sights and they smell blood.
Seeing a similar story being played out has made everyone sit up and begin to consider Inter Milan as dark horses once again. The underdogs are returning to a competition whose appeal is slowly dying, thanks to the Nerazzurri.
Threats to Inter Milan in the UCL 2023/24
Five of the usual six teams remain in the round of 16: Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Manchester City and Real Madrid. The sixth team is Liverpool, who were knocked down by a peg in the Premier League last season and have to play in Europe’s second-tier competition, the UEFA Europa League, this season.
These six teams have been the most dominant forces in the competition in the last decade and a half, reaching more quarterfinals and semifinals than any other team. Their round of 16 opponents, Atléti, are on the fringes of this group, having reached their last two finals inside of this period as well.
All five teams could easily qualify for the quarters this season, increasing the difficulty for the Nerazzurri. Last season, they had Napoli, Chelsea, and Benfica to even the odds, only meeting one of the usual suspects in the final which they lost.
This is where their determination comes in.
Simone Inzaghi is building a team of specialists with enough discipline to paint everywhere blue-black like the colours of their jersey. As stated earlier, they smell blood and will be ready for any challenge should they scale through the hurdle of Atléti at the Civitas Metropolitano.
Ranking Inter Milan’s chances in the 2023/24 UCL
Following the above analysis, it will be difficult for the Nerazzurri to scale through to the quarter-final.
Barcelona has a renewed vigor following Xavi’s exit announcement. PSG are losing Kylian Mbappe at the end of the season, which also gives them renewed vigor. Real Madrid is chasing their 15th title and Bayern Munich has the opportunity to become the second all-time most successful UCL team alongside AC Milan, Inter’s city rivals. All of these teams also have better squads than the Nerazzurri.
However, this is an analysis on paper. Tournament football follows no rules.
Also, Inter Milan will be buoyed by Lautaro Martinez’s stellar form this campaign. The Argentine is in top form this campaign and has become the fifth striker able to score more than 20 goals in three consecutive Serie A campaigns in the last 65 years, joining an exclusive list of Cristiano Ronaldo, Gabriel Batistuta, Antonio Di Natale, and Edinson Cavani.
He has also hit a century of Italian top-flight goals and he will have motivation to score even more this season.
Speaking after achieving that feat, he said: “We’re doing some fantastic work and need to keep it up. 100 goals in Serie A? Choosing my favourite is difficult; perhaps I’ll go for my 100th, which was my first one tonight. I have to say that when I left home at the age of 15, I would never have imagined all of this: the work and sacrifices of my family when I was a child have made it all possible. All of this is for them.”
One other thing rings true in the midst of all these: the world needs this story to be complete. Football has lost its sentimentality in recent times, with Lionel Messi and Argentina’s FIFA World Cup win in 2022 being the last romantic story that fans got to enjoy.
An Inter win in the Champions League will be on the same level.
