LONGEVITY IS NOT something managers of Inter Milan are accustomed to.
Yet the chance to leave a lasting legacy pervades.
Since Giovanni Trapattoni’s reign from 1986-1991, only Roberto Mancini (2004-2008) has been at the helm for three consecutive seasons.
His successor, Jose Mourinho, stayed for two, as did Antonio Conte before departing in 2021.
And even on the morning of this Champions League final, there are doubts about whether Simone Inzaghi will remain in charge beyond his second campaign.
At various points, his position was rumoured to be under threat.
Their Champions League voyage, emerging from a group which contained Bayern Munich and Barcelona, before beating FC Porto, Benfica and city rivals AC Milan in the knockout rounds, has ensured those rocky waters have been navigated safely.
Yet while all of the talk is of Manchester City completing a Treble, Inter are also on the brink of their own version – albeit one that doesn’t include the Serie A title following a dismal league season which saw them lose 12 times and finish 18 points adrift of winners Napoli despite having a squad heralded as the strongest in the country.
Winning the Supercoppa Italiana and Coppa Italia already means victory against City in Istanbul could see Inzaghi match the exploits of Mourinho in more ways than one.
Not only would he become just the second Inter boss this century to lift the European Cup, it may also prove to be his final act at the club before bidding farewell.
Nobody would be surprised if Inzaghi was to was walk away for a different challenge this summer. He may have had an inferior playing career to older brother Filippo (the striker who Alex Ferguson famously described as being born offside) but in managerial terms, those roles are reversed.
He is 47 and carving out a very specific niche for himself, even if that repuation as a cup specialist is one he will not want to stay with him.
There appears to be two firm camps on the job Inzaghi has done for Inter: those who feel he has delivered success, and those adamant that he has underachieved by not securing a league title – despite the financial issues that have lingered and fact that the club, part-owned by the Chinese state, is up for sale.
“The people who are against him have the knives sharpened and are ready to throw,” one source in Italy says. “But if they win no one can say anything. It would be no shock if he goes soon.”
During five years at Lazio, Inzaghi also delivered silverware three times in domestic competitions. The sense, as expained to The 42 from a source in Italy, is that when stakes are high and the repercussion great in one-off games, he can get his players up for any challenge, but ensuring a team is consistently “on it” remains a challenge.
It perhaps explains why, since he joined Inter, Inzaghi has lost just one out of 20 knockout matches he has overseen – winning 15 and drawing four times.
And despite a strong finish to their season – winning 11 out of 12 games in all competitions – that did not temper the sense at the club’s media day for the final earlier this week that Inter needed a miracle to overcome City.
There was talk of fear and anxiety amid the local media. Inzaghi wasn’t allowing it to fester, though.
Inter are not a side who are comfortable with simply sitting back and inviting pressure. Inzaghi’s default setting is to take opponents on and try to impose his players’ strengths on any game.
They might not always be good enough but it is always the aim.
The wing backs typify their sense of adventure, none moreso than Federico Dimarco on the left side. The 25-year-old is a boyhood Inter fan who watched the club’s last Champions League win from the stands, and only City’s Kevin De Bruyne has more assists than his total of five in the Champions League this season.
It didn’t even seem as if he was going to be Inzaghi’s first choice, given that Germany international Robin Gosens was signed permanantely for €25 million last summer after a loan spell from Atalanta.
Injury hampered him and Dimarco has “come alive”, with Netherlands international Denzel Dumfries offering similar levels of attacking verve on the right.
Inzaghi’s side will give up chances, but they will also try to move the ball quickly and use their width to get the ball forward.
In Nicolò Barella, they have arguably the best midfielder in Italy, although question marks about his maturity remain as relevant now as they were under Conte. He was always viewed as a hot-head when he was emerging with Cagliari, and the 26-year-old will have to marry composure with his natural desire for chaos.
So, too, their talisman up front. Argentina World Cup winner Lautaro Martinez will be partnered by either Eden Dzeko or Romelu Lukaku, and is capable of spearheading a shock or simply drifitng into the background.
Inzaghi, it seems, is the type of manager capable of stirring whatever reaction is needed when glory is on the line in a one-off game.