Can Simone Inzaghi End Inter Milan’s 13-Year Champions League Drought? | OneFootball

When the 2023 Champions League final takes place this June in the Atatürk Olympic Stadium, it will be 13-long-years since Inter Milan last got their hands on the most important trophy in European club football.

So can Simone Inzaghi emulate what Jose Mourinho achieved on that famous night in Madrid, when he guided Inter Milan to their last Champions League title back in 2010, and end the current drought?

Serie A Struggles In Europe

2010 wasn’t just the last time that Inter Milan won the Champions League, it was also the last time a Serie A team hoisted the famous trophy aloft. Since then the trophy has been dominated by Spanish super-power Real Madrid with five wins, along with Barcelona (2), Bayern Munich (2), Chelsea (2) and Liverpool (1).

Quite simply, it has been hard work for anybody from Serie A to break that monopoly in that time. Only Juventus in 2015 and 2017 have managed to even make the final, never mind win the trophy.

This year, if the odds from bookmakers are anything to go by, the task for Inter Milan to break that monopoly looks as difficult as ever.

Inter Milan are 33/1 to win the Champions League in the latest online betting with William Hill. This puts Inzaghi’s team down in joint-10th place in the betting. Manchester City are the favourites at 13/8, way clear of Bayern Munich and PSG, who are priced at 6/1.

Reasons Why Inter Milan Can Win The Champions League

Inzaghi’s team are having a decent season as they have beat Barcelona in the Champions League group stages and qualified comfortably out of a group that also included Bayern Munich.

Their 1-0 league win over Serie A runaway leaders Napoli in early January was further proof that they can compete with the top sides in Europe, which was analysed here on SempreInter.

And the omens for an Inter Milan victory even look good. Back in 2010, Inter also qualified out of a group consisting of Barcelona.

Back then, the Catalans also qualified for the knock-out stages, where they were knocked out in a famous semi-final by Mourinho’s men.

Reasons Inter Milan Might Struggle To Win The Champions League

The two Group C matches against Bayern Munich didn’t go well and highlighted a bit of a gulf in class between the two teams. Bayern won both matches 2-0, and they won them both without much incident.

These two matches against the German giants indicated that Inter Milan might struggle against Europe’s elite dominant clubs.

Also going against Inzaghi and his team is the close contest for the remaining three Champions League places available in Serie A. It can be assumed that Napoli are likely to win the Scudetto, and even if they capitulate and don’t win the title, it’s hard to see them finishing outside of the top four.

That leaves Inter and four other sides vying for the three remaining positions. Does Inzaghi focus on finishing in the top four? Or does he throw his resources at Europe?

He may well decide to go all out for success in Europe. After all, the Champions League is in the knock-out stages now.

Inter have a favourable draw against Porto, as covered on the official UEFA site, and the rest of Europe’s elite could easily knock each other out and clear a path for Inzaghi’s team.

It might well be a long shot. But ending the drought and landing the Champions League for the first time since 2010 isn’t impossible for Inter this season.