Champions League: Courtois backs Lukaku to win as Inzaghi says Belgian may start against Man City

Real Madrid star Thibaut Courtois has revealed who he will be supporting in the Champions League final.

Courtois was named as man of the match in Los Blancos’ 1-0 final win over Liverpool in 2022 but he will be watching the 2023 final from Madrid.

Manchester City powered past Courtois’ Madrid with an impressive 5-1 semi final aggregate win over the defending champions.

City will now take on Inter Milan in Istanbul on June 10 as they aim for a first-ever Champions League title.

Courtois was asked about his affiliations for the final, with his international teammates, and close friends, Kevin De Bruyne and Romelu Lukaku going head to head.

The 31-year-old was clear in who will have his backing in the final as Lukaku’s Inter plot a shock against the Premier League champions.

“I hope Lukaku wins the Champions League. Obviously, it is him up against Kevin De Bruyne, but I’ve known Romelu a bit longer. I have a lot of respect for him,” as per an interview with Amazon Prime.

The trio are expected be reunited later in the month as Belgium prepare for a Euro 2024 qualification double header against Austria and Estonia.

Meanwhile, Inter coach Simone Inzaghi believes the aggressive start and high press shown against Atalanta will also be ‘fundamental’ in the Champions League Final with Manchester City and hints Lukaku could start in Istanbul.

It was a very high press and aggressive start to the game, so could that also be the tactic used against Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City?

“That will be fundamental. Now we must rest and recover, hopefully a few injuries too, as Mkhitaryan, Skriniar, Correa and today D’Ambrosio had knocks, but hopefully they will be available for the Champions League Final.

 

“We’ll see with Skriniar, he’ll start working with the team next week. Correa just had a little issue and we need to evaluate D’Ambrosio.”

Lukaku is in sparkling form and has that remarkable bond with Lautaro Martinez, so will he start against Manchester City instead of Edin Dzeko?

“We’ll see, there are still two weeks to go. We’ll make our choices, but they are always for the good of the team. The strikers all alternated in recent weeks, because playing every three days it was necessary.”

Inzaghi was also asked if he will change his fitness training over the next two weeks to prepare for Manchester City or if his analysts are making any particular lists.

“We all know Manchester City are the strongest squad in the world, they are the favourites, but we gave our all to get here and will give our all on the night too. They have 23-24 excellent players, so it’s not like you can just pick one or two to keep an eye on.

“To think where we were seven games ago in Serie A, we were able to secure Champions League qualification with a round to spare. I realise that qualification was probably more important than all the finals we’ve played lately.”

Playing against Manchester City, it’s likely that Andre Onana is going to be rather busy in Istanbul.

“He is a fantastic goalkeeper who immediately tried to make his mark every day. He is dividing the role with Samir Handanovic, who is not getting space in the Coppa Italia Final just because he’s the captain, but because he is a great goalkeeper and he proved that against Fiorentina too,” concluded Inzaghi.