With FC Barcelona next, Inter’s path to the semifinals has Inter fans feeling like it’s 2010 all over again
Inter being back in the top four of the UEFA Champions League is not a coincidence. The side coached by Italian manager Simone Inzaghi, after beating Bayern Munich in the two legs of the quarterfinals, will now face FC Barcelona in the semifinals (first leg away on April 30) in a matchup that bring us back 15 years, when Pep Guardiola’s Barcelona met the Nerazzurri and Jose Mourinho in one of the most memorable semifinals in the history of the sport.
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Players and managers are now much different, but we shouldn’t underestimate the strength and the experience as well of this team, that after losing 1-0 the 2023 final in Istanbul against Manchester City are now having the chance to try another time to win the European competition, while they are still fighting for the Treble as they are now at the top of the Serie A standings with a three-point margin on Antonio Conte’s Napoli.
Here’s why Inter shouldn’t be underestimated, despite the fact that they will face one of the strongest teams in the competition.
The European experience
The Nerazzurri come from some successful years outside their country, in particular after the club appointed Inzaghi as their new manager to replace Conte in the summer of 2021. Despite some financial issues of the former Chinese ownership that forced Inter to sell players like Romelu Lukaku and Achraf Hakimi, Inter immediately showed a different character in Europe and only lost to Liverpool in the first season under Inzaghi, and then reached the Champions League final before losing to City after eliminating city rivals AC Milan in the historical semifinals. Inzaghi, at Inter, has won one Serie A title, two Coppa Italia and three Supercoppa Italiana in three years so far, but it’s clear that winning the Champions League would definitely be the ultimate mileston, as the Nerazzurri have won it three times, the last one in 2010 under Mourinho’s management. Just to make clear how big Inzaghi’s tenure has been, Inter reached two semifinals in three years, the same number of semifinals that Inter played from 1981 to 2022. The Italian side started off well in the league phase, being the only Italian team ending up in the top eight. This is even more important if we consider the bigger picture of European soccer, where Premier League clubs are dominating financially alongside a few other clubs around like FC Barcelona, Real Madrid and PSG.
The end of a cycle
Inter’s current roster will be drastically changed in the summer of 2025, after the Nerazzurri play the FIFA Club World Cup in the United States. It will happen, as club president Giuseppe Marotta already said multiple times, especially because Inter’s new owners, Okatree, want to make the roster younger and still competitive in the near future. It’s unlikely we will see players in the late 30s signed in the future starting from this summer, while it’s unknown what will happen for the ones still under contract or with their deals expiring such as key defender Francesco Acerbi, who showed again against Bayern Munich. For all these reasons, it’s clear that this is looking like the end of a winning cycle for the current roster, and exactly as it happened in 2010 when the Nerazzurri won the treble, it might boost even more the motivations of this team which is also supported by the experience they gained over the last years.
Is 2025 the new 2010?
Talking about references of the 2010 season, Inter are still competing in all the tournaments they were playing as of today, and after facing Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals, their opponent in the 2010 Champions League final, they will meet FC Barcelona in the two-legged semifinals. The team Inter knocked out in 2010, ahead of the Madrid final, was even stronger compared to this one. The Blaugrana had players like Xavi, Gerard Pique, Andres Iniesta and Lionel Messi all at their prime, while the same Spanish team signed Zlatan Ibrahimovic in the summer 2009 from Inter and also included Samuel Eto’o in the deal, who joined Inter after winning the treble with Barcelona during the 2008-09 season, in one of the most incredible swap deals in the history of the transfer market. Back in 2010, only a few believed Inter could make it, and that’s not that different from the vibes this season.
