Manchester City and Inter Milan do battle in the Uefa Champions League final in Istanbul on Saturday night, as the curtain comes down on a marathon European football season.
The Ataturk Olympic Stadium is the venue as the English Premier League champions go up against the resurgent Italians.
It’s a contest that sees the former go in as favourites with the bookies, while the latter may be tempted to see it as a free shot at glory in Turkey.
City are still searching for their maiden European title despite their domestic dominance under legendary coach Pep Guardiola.
This season looks like their best opportunity yet, not least after a first leg blast at the Etihad Stadium saw them bury Guardiola’s former club, Bayern Munich, in the quarter-finals.
They followed it up with a 5-1 aggregate thumping of Real Madrid in the semis, including a 4-0 Etihad blitz of the stunned Spaniards in the second leg.
And that was without star man Erling Haaland even finding the back of the net.
RB Leipzig had earlier suffered even more fury in the first knockout round, with City romping to an 8-1 aggregate success.
Their opponents brought back memories of two decades ago in their San Siro double-header with AC Milan in the last four.
A three-goal margin across more than 180 minutes of Milanese derby action proved just the ticket for Simone Inzaghi’s men to take their place in the continental showpiece.
Inter came through their quarter-final with Benfica comfortably, with a 5-3 aggregate scoreline closer than the reality of the contest thanks to two late Portuguese goals.
It made for an Iberian double, with Inter having already dispensed with former champions FC Porto in the Round of 16.
City motored through the pool phase before the turn of the year, topping Group G with a 14-point haul.
Borussia Dortmund, Sevilla and FC Copenhagen proved no match for Guardiola’s machine, that rattled in 14 goals while only conceding two.
Inter claimed a huge scalp in making it out of Group C as runners-up to German champions Bayern Munich.
They finished a whopping eight points behind the Bavarians’ perfect points haul but, crucially, three points clear of Barcelona, who were condemned to the Europa League by a third-placed finish ahead of pointless Victoria Plzen.
Manchester City vs Internazionale
| Result prediction | Manchester City win |
| Over/Under prediction | Over 2.5 goals |
| HT / FT prediction | Manchester City / Manchester City |
| Team to Score prediction | both teams |
| Anytime Goalscorer prediction | Erling Haaland (Manchester City) |