Manchester City and Inter will be part of a coincidence

Manchester City and Inter will play the fifth final between an English and an Italian club in the most important European club tournament. Remarkable: one of the four previous editions was also completed in Istanbul, again the stage of the Champions League final on June 10. Perhaps worth mentioning is the fact that Liverpool was the english side in all four of those fixtures.

Another English-Italian Champions League final in Istanbul

In 2005, Liverpool and AC Milan delivered one of the most memorable finals of all time. The Reds trailed 3-0 at halftime, but fought back quickly after the break (3-3) and then won on penalties. Carlo Ancelotti, the coach who lost to Manchester City with Real Madrid on Wednesday, was then the coach of AC Milan.

Two years later, the Rossoneri took revenge by winning 2-1 against Liverpool. Liverpool was also a participant in the first two English-Italian finals of the (then) European Cup 1. In 1984, the English won on penalties against AS Roma, a year later they lost 1-0 to Juventus. This game will be remembered forever because of the Heysel disaster.

In three and a half weeks, City and Inter will again face each other from an English and an Italian team. City are playing their second ever Champions League final; Inter is among the last two for the sixth time.

Ancelotti knocks Ferguson off the Champions League throne

Speaking of Carlo Ancelotti, he has broken the record of manager with the most Champions League games to his name. The Real Madrid coach passed Sir Alex Ferguson on Wednesday evening.

Ancelotti leveled with Ferguson last week when he sat on the bench for the 190th time as head coach in a Champions League match. On Wednesday evening, Ancelotti single-handedly took the throne. He takes on Real Madrid against the Manchester City of his main pursuer Pep Guardiola, who is coaching his 161st CL game tonight.

Ancelotti made his debut as coach of Parma in August 1997 in the billion dollar ball. He later also managed Juventus, AC Milan, Chelsea, Paris Saint-Germain, Bayern Munich, Napoli and again Real Madrid in the Champions League. He has won the tournament four times so far: twice with AC Milan (2002/03, 2006/07) and twice with Real Madrid (2013/14, 2021/22).