Inter vice president Javier Zanetti: “I want to avoid Real Madrid in the final”

Inter vice president Javier Zanetti has revealed that he wants the Nerazzurri to avoid Real Madrid in the Champions League final.

Inter reached their first Champions League final since 2010, as they picked up a 3-0 win on aggregate over the Rossoneri. They kept a cleansheet in both the legs and have now kept four cleansheets against Stefano Pioli in the same season and that is quite a rare occurence.

Manchester City host Real Madrid tomorrow in the second leg of the other Champions League final tomorrow and the winner will take on Inter in Istanbul in June.

Zanetti spoke to Sky Italia after the win over Milan and he revealed that Inter want to avoid Real Madrid. The club legend said: 

“It is a great opportunity to return to the Champions League final after 13 years. Who would I rather face? I would like to avoid Real Madrid, this competition seems made for them . But now we’re here, it’s been a long journey . A derby in the semi-final is difficult, it happened to me too and I lost it. That time Costacurta was among the first to greet me at the end of the game and there is always sportsmanship with Milan.”

Zanetti also spoke about Lautaro Martinez, who scored the decisive goal today and also had praise for Simone Inzaghi.

“Lautaro? I’m very happy for him, he’s doing an extraordinary journey with us. We hold on to him and enjoy him, he is very happy here and I hope he stays as long as possible. And Inzaghi deserved to reach this final.”

Not long ago, Inzaghi’s job at Inter was under threat but he has clearly turned things around.

Kaustubh Pandey | GIFN