Inter Milan's preferred Champions League final opponent revealed

Inter Milan Javier Zanetti has revealed his preference for the club's Champions League final opponents in Istanbul.

Simone Inzaghi's side have reached the final for the first time since the treble-winning campaign in 2010 after knocking off rivals AC Milan 3-0 on aggregate.

Inter won 2-0 in the first leg before Lautaro Martinez sealed the victory with a solitary second leg strike in the Nerazzurri's home game at the San Siro.

It's a sixth Champions League final for Inter, who will play the winner of the second semi-final between Manchester City and Real Madrid at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium.

City and Real are evenly poised from the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, where Kevin De Bruyne cancelled out an equally stunning effort from Vinicius Jr.

Plenty of people think it's City time after falling short in recent years but Zanetti, who captained Inter to glory against Bayern Munich 13 years ago, would rather play them than holders and 14-time champions Real.

Image: Alamy

"Great emotion. This group deserved this emotion. Now we wait for tomorrow to discover the opponent but it’s already a lot to have arrived at this moment," the vice-president told Sky Sport Italia after Inter reached the final.

"I’d like to avoid Real Madrid because this competition seems made for them.

“However, the most important thing is to have arrived here. It was a difficult path, it’s not easy to play a derby in the semifinals. I did and I was defeated in 2003.”

A couple of Zanetti's fellow Champions League winners were in attendance for the historic night on Tuesday, as Wesley Sneijder and Marco Materazzi were both living up with the ultras in the Curva Nord.

Image: Alamy

Romelu Lukaku, back on loan at Inter from Chelsea, came off the bench to set up Martinez' goal. He has never played in a Champions League final before but does not have a preference on who he would like to meet on 10 June.

"It doesn’t matter," Lukaku said afterwards when asked who he would rather play.

"In this stage in your career when you play finals you know you’re going to play the biggest teams. I just want to see a good game to be honest, and then at the end of the day, may the best team win."

Topics: Inter Milan, Champions League, Real Madrid, Premier League, Manchester City

Josh Lawless

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