Inter’s final is also Acerbi and Inzaghi’s turnaround tale
Hindustan TimesA giant tifo of what looked like a knight, arrows piercing its shield, was one of the first televised shots of the San Siro on Tuesday. AC Milan's Olivier Giroud in action with Inter Milan's Francesco Acerbi “It’s these kinds of matches where you have everything to lose, and so we have to stay even more switched-on than in the first leg,” the Inter Milan central defender had told Sky Sport Italia one day prior to the second leg of the Champions League semi-final against AC Milan, one where Inter began with a 2-0 advantage. Acerbi walked his talk in Inter’s 1-0 win through Lautaro Martinez’s 74th minute goal; the 3-0 aggregate taking them to their first Champions League final since 2010. It didn’t work because Inter were more cohesive – Edin Dzeko dropping back to help the defence underscored Martinez’s point about the “unity”, the importance of which the Argentine said he understood from a successful World Cup – and because Acerbi didn’t put a foot wrong. Among Inter’s outfield players, only Alessandro Bastoni completed more long passes than him and Acerbi’s short pass completion was second after Hakan Calhanoglu.