Inter’s final is also Acerbi and Inzaghi’s turnaround tale

A 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. That of Francesco Acerbi, hands raised, followed. When the final whistle signalled a first Champions League final for him, Acerbi, looking spent, fell on his knees. Depression, alcoholism, cancer, he had conquered all and now he was on club football’s biggest stage.

“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. Like he had last Wednesday, Acerbi softened up Olivier Giroud early. He also cut out Junior Messias’ delivery aimed at the Frenchman in the 36th. Between them, Milan had their best chance but Brahim Diaz didn’t test Andre Onana hard enough.

Matteo Darmian missing an aerial ball had Rafael Leao speeding towards goal. Inside the penalty area, Acerbi, his arms spread, was beaten for pace but managed to hurry the Milan winger into firing a shot that flew across the goalmouth. Had Leao got a second more, he may have tried what Martinez did successfully: take aim at the near post. That he couldn’t was because of the scruffy Italy defender at the centre of Inter’s back-three.

Milan looked to use Leao and Theo Hernandez’s pace against the 35-year-old Acerbi and Darmian who is 33. 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. Barring a deliberate stamp on Sandro Tonali that is.

Acerbi never let Giroud out of sight; he looked around to see where the targetman was after shinning away a Leao delivery. Leao gives Milan security, Acerbi had said on Tuesday. So, in the 68th minute, eyes fixed on the ball, not only did Acerbi thwart Leao’s attempt to beat him inside the penalty area, he did it by winning a goal-kick.

Acerbi even took a break from directing operations at the back and tested Mike Maignan. Among Inter’s outfield players, only Alessandro Bastoni completed more long passes than him (7-3) and Acerbi’s short pass completion was second after Hakan Calhanoglu (17-9). “Acerbi leader,” said Gazzetta dello Sport.

A late bloomer, Acerbi made his Serie A debut at 22, spent a season at Milan but it was at Sassuolo and then Lazio that he shone before moving to Inter in 2022.

In 2013, his first season at Sassuolo, Acerbi was diagnosed with testicular cancer. That, he said, helped him win the fight against alcohol. Struggling to deal with his father’s death had got him drinking, he said.

“Cancer saved me. I had something to fight against again, a limit to overcome,” he told ‘La Repubblica’ in 2019. The disease took away “remorse and “regret” and got him to focus on “achievable” goals such as making the national team. Acerbi did that in 2014 and was part of European championship-winning squad in 2021.

Since 2014, Acerbi has been cancer-free. A season where Borussia Dortmund striker Sebastien Haller’s recovery from testicular cancer was one of the most uplifting stories will now end with Acerbi playing in Istanbul on June 10.

Some turnaround it has also been for Inter manager Simone Inzaghi. Between February and April, Inter drew with Sampdoria and Salernitana and lost to Bologna, Spezia, Monza and Fiorentina. All teams were below Inter in the Serie A standings; Sampdoria have been relegated, Spezia are 17th and Salernitana 15th.

But having survived a group that had Bayern Munich and Barcelona, Inter beat Porto, Benfica and Milan to make their first final since winning it under Jose Mourinho. At home, a Coppa Italia final against Fiorentina awaits and Inter are third in Serie A going to Napoli on Sunday.

Replacing Antonio Conte in 2021 at a financially distressed Inter, Inzaghi couldn’t stop the sale of Achraf Hakimi, Ivan Perisic and Romelu Lukaku (he is on loan from Chelesa). AC Milan wrested the Serie A away in 2021-22, Napoli have trumped all this time but Inter had made it out of the group in the Champions League in 2021-22 too, their first in 11 years.

And now this. Not since 1973-74 have Inter, who ensured that the tie was effectively settled in the first 30 minutes last week when they had scored twice, beaten Milan four times in a season.

AP quoted Inzaghi speaking of a “dream” he and the “guys nurtured” from when the draw was out. “I think probably from tomorrow we’ll realise more what we have done.”