Inter felt Man City 'pressure to win at all costs' in Champions League Final

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ByLorenzo Bettoni

Feb 7, 2024 11:29

Alessandro Bastoni insists Inter can compete with the best teams in Europe and reveals the Nerazzurri felt Manchester City‘s ‘pressure to win at all costs’ during last season’s Champions League Final.

The Italian defender released an interview with his former teammate Andrea Ranocchia on the podcast ‘Frog Talks’ where he revealed he wanted to leave the Nereazzurri in his first season at the club under Antonio Conte in 2019.

Bastoni also discussed Inter’s developments over the last year. In particular, he talked about last season’s Champions League Final, which the Nerazzurri lost against Manchester City in Istanbul.

The Premier League giants were the clear favourite, but Inter caused trouble for them in the Final and wasted several goal-scoring opportunities, seeing Pep Guardiola’s men lift the trophy for the first time in the club’s history.

“In the game against Manchester City, we noticed that we can be at that level and we started this season as we ended the last one,” Bastoni said as quoted by fcinter1908.

“It was a surreal Final. At the beginning of the season, we thought we would watch it on TV, but in the end, we were there, and we tried. We were calm and from the pitch, we felt their pressure to win at all costs. We tried to win and we had a couple of chances to score. They were surprised and we felt it on the pitch.”

Inter have qualified for this season’s Champions League Round of 16, where they will face Atletico Madrid. The first leg will be at Stadio Meazza on February 20.