Two goals, the goals of the match, made Diego Milito (Quilmes, Argentina; 43 years old) the hero of the last Champions League final won by Inter Milan, against Bayern (2-0). It happened at the Bernabéu, on May 22, 2010, between an Inter that counterattacked and a Bayern that dominated. The same dichotomy that is glimpsed in Istanbul between an Inter that is fortified and a City that plans to assault the citadel.
Question. How did you cope with the loneliness of waiting so many minutes for the moment of Mourinho's Inter attack, when Barça and Bayern dominated? Do strikers live better like this, or stuck in the opposite field like Haaland at City, who has hardly any room to stand out?
Answer. The first thing a striker has to have is the ability to adapt. The big ones know how to make a living alone, and they know that if their team is dominant they can have more chances, but they will have them in small spaces. The difficulty increases but the arrivals and people in the area increase, and this also gives you the possibility to move to generate spaces that allow your team to score goals. The Inter of 2010 was engraved in the retina as a defensive team for the return in Barcelona. The reality is that we were many more attackers than defenders. Two things happen, first that strategically we needed the opponent to attack us in order to counterattack; and second, that in front of us we had two super teams. That Bayern and that Barcelona at some point dominated you. They were two of the best teams in the history of football without any doubt. Many times you have to adapt to those situations. Many times I had to play in solitude. But our characteristics were to attack. Many games we played with Maicon, with Sneijder, with Pandev, with Eto'o and me. Basically, four forwards.
Q. What ending do you expect?
A. City is imposed on you. He has the ball. He has done so 95% of the games he has played. It is very difficult to jump to press, they have very oiled the exit of the pressure in situations of risk in any part of the field. But Inter have players of great quality and will always wait for the opportunity to hurt him.
Q. Which Inter players are best suited to lead your team out of the box?
A. Brozovic has played in a World Cup final, Dzeko has great experience, and Lautaro is a point of reference. He's in a great moment.
Q. What consumes more energy mentally and physically? Wait for someone else's mistake in low block or control the ball and touch and touch for a crack?
A. First you have to see how each team carries out the game. Talking is futurology. I think Inter have weapons to be able to hurt City. The status of favorite in a final is relative. It is in the air that City arrives more pressured to win, for what it has been showing, because it comes from winning the Premier League and the English Cup, and how it has won them. But Inter have players of experience and great quality. Maybe not arriving as a favorite suits him. If I were City, I would be very cautious: Italian teams in these situations give their best. And Inter is a winning club. A club with a tradition of knowing how to play finals.
Q. You won titles with Mostaza Merlo and with José Mourinho, two coaches at the ends: one who did not intervene and another who has perhaps been the most intervener of all time. Now we are facing a final that pits Guardiola against Simone Inzaghi, another intervener against another who prefers never to change anything. What type of technician did you feel most comfortable with?
A. The most important thing is what the coach can get out of the player. Merlo and Mourinho have that. Each one with his little book, they are two leaders. The two marked me. In moments of difficulty, when they had to appear, they appeared.
Q. What virtue does Inzaghi have?
A. It transmits calm in moments of great tension and that is fundamental. That temperance, that security, that tranquility, for the players is very important. Especially in the finals. I don't remember a final lost by Simone Inzaghi: the cups are very good for her.
Q. How did Mourinho convince Eto'o to play full-back?
A. That is the condition of the different coach: they have the sensitivity to convince the player that he can play in any position and be useful to the team. Eto'o was a phenomenon: he made himself available to everyone. For a player of that magnitude to do something like that, for us it was fundamental. Eto'o had an impressive winning mentality. Fast, with good movements, super complete. I didn't just play ball: I saw the clearances and passes before. He gave passing options to his fellow passers.
Q. Are Haaland and Julian Alvarez the Eto'o of this City?
A. The two, with different characteristics, have those unmarks in depth.
Q. What stands out about Haaland?
A. I am amazed by his mentality at 22 years old. Beyond the technical conditions. It is very difficult to see players like Haaland, or Julian, so young and with so much voracity for the goal, so much desire to progress. They always transmit it in every gesture. They show it when they don't have the ball.
Q. How has the role of the centre forward changed since 2010?
A. I don't know if it has changed that much. Maybe the slightly static striker has had to mutate, he has had to leave the area to enter by surprise after getting more involved in the playing circuit. They are the Benzema of all time. Today the large, static nines don't look much. And they are important. You always need in a squad to have one of these players, because there are moments, in close games, when you can not enter, that when you put a direct ball they can solve you. But the prototype is Haaland: even having physical qualities of nine of area, he tends to throw himself back to enter the game circuit and shoot unmarked. Lukaku and Dzeko do similar things: they pull back, play for the team, unload... They're not just waiting for the play and the moment. They want to come and touch the ball.
Q. You wanted the ball...
A. When I didn't have the ball, I went crazy. I would go a few minutes without touching it and I would despair. I couldn't just be waiting in the box for a center, or the play. I needed mobility.
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