Milan legend claims Inter ‘can compete with anyone’ in Champions League | OneFootball

Milan legend Zvonimir Boban has picked his favourites for the 2024-25 edition of the Champions League, and thinks that Inter are the only Italian team who can compete for the title this season.

The ex-Rossoneri midfielder and UEFA’s former Chief of Football gave an interview to La Gazzetta dello Sport, published on Thursday morning.

There are no surprises over who Boban has picked as the favourites for the Champions League: “The usual two, Real Madrid and Manchester City,” he told La Gazzetta.

He added: “If anyone knows how to manage stars well, it’s Carlo Ancelotti.”

“To build a team, Pep (Guardiola) is unique, to manage and not complicate things, Carlo is better.”

Boban: ‘Inter have shown they can compete with anyone’

Though he spent the majority of his playing career on Milan’s books, Boban believes that Inter are the strongest Serie A side in the competition this season. He also feels that they are still the clear favourites for the Scudetto.

“Inter have shown they can compete with anyone, I don’t see the others at this level.”

Due to Italy’s position in the UEFA club coefficient rankings, there will be five Serie A representatives in the Champions League this season, including the aforementioned Inter and Milan, plus Juventus, Atalanta and Bologna.

The 2024-25 edition of the Champions League will also be the first to feature 36 teams instead of the previous 32.

Boban was not employed by UEFA when that decision was made. He suggests that the competition’s expansion was a profit-making exercise, but admitted that it should make for an entertaining set of fixtures.

“Even though the format was created to generate more revenue, not caring about the players who already had a packed schedule, I like it and think it will be a lot of fun.

“It was voted for before I arrived at UEFA. I argued with many to reduce the number of matches in the groups, because initially there were ten scheduled games, and for me that did not protect the integrity of the competition.”