Inter Milan vice-president, Javier Zanetti has revealed that he does not want his team to face Real Madrid, the most successful team in Europe, in the Champions League final.
Inter Milan have qualified for the Champions League final after beating their city rivals AC Milan 2-0 in the first leg and 1-0 in the second leg to scale through the semi-finals round 3-0 on aggregate.
This means that Inter who have not played in the Champions League final for over 13 years will face either the reigning Champions League winners Real Madrid or the serial Premier League winners Manchester City in the final in Istanbul on June 10.
Manchester City drew 1-1 with Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League tie at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu last week. The Spanish giants are currently in the city of Manchester for the second leg at the Etihad Stadium.
The game which will kick off at 8 PM WAT must produce an outright winner in regular time. If not, the game will move into extra time and then a penalty shootout if both teams fail to win the game within the extra 30 minutes.
After the 3-0 aggregate win on Tuesday, Inter Milan’s vice-president said he does not want the Italian team to face the record 14 times Champions League winners.
“I would like to avoid Real Madrid because the competition seems made for them,” said Zanetti who captained the Inter Milan team during his playing days.
After beating AC Milan back-to-back in the first Milan derby in European competition in 20 years, Inter manager Simone Inzaghi said, “In the next few days we will realize what we did.
“For us, it was a dream but we have always believed in it.
“It was an extraordinary path and winning a derby in the semi-final like this brings great satisfaction.
“Madrid and City are two of the best teams in Europe.”
