OLYMPIAPARK, MUNICH —Saturday in Munich was long for Inter Milan fans, the hours and minutes until kickoff in the 2025 UEFA Champions League final stretched out and distorted by blazing sunshine and the local refreshments.
Temperatures approaching 90 degrees Fahrenheit made the lengthy shadows cast by the Bavarian capital’s stunning Gothic architecture almost as inviting as the region’s speciality produce. Beer was flowing and the visitors, who’d more or less taken over the iconic Hofbrauhaus, were thirsty.
One Nerazzurri fan staggering around in mid-afternoon, trying to dead-leg his friends and finding himself more amusing than they did, looked like a major fitness doubt for the 9 p.m. kickoff. No matter, there were plenty of others to take his place.
La Gazzetta dello Sport reported 40,000 Milanese made the trip and, on the ground in Munich, it was easy to feel that estimate was accurate if not a little undercooked.
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When Inter reached this showpiece two years ago, their fans faced a trip to the edge of the European continent for the meeting with Manchester City in Istanbul. This time, trains, planes and automobiles were all in play. San Siro is 500km from the Allianz Arena and, given a fair wind, you could drive between the two in about six hours.
Unlike the 2023 game at the Ataturk Stadium, this was an occasion you could travel to without a ticket with little inconvenience. The place on the grand quest was yours to take and experience.
Munich. MD-1 🇮🇹 #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/UCol9Sx1AQ
— Dom Farrell (@DomFarrell1986) May 30, 2025
Many did just that. UEFA allocated 18,000 tickets to Inter. Those mathematics aren’t particularly tricky. As the afternoon ticked towards evening and the streets around Marienplatz thronged with Inter anthems, plenty of the ticketless made their way towards Munich’s Olympic Park, the site surrounding Bayern Munich’s old home — the 1972 Olympic Stadium.
Half a decade on, the whole complex remains a marvel; the swooping, unique architecture of the stadium roof played out over other venues across the sprawling, undulating complex. It’s like Teletubby Land, but Mark Spitz is Tinky-Winky.
On a day like Saturday, as the sun shimmered off the park lakes and unperturbed joggers and cyclists mingled with wandering tourists and the smell of fried meats, it was a time for fans — predominantly those of an Inter persuasion — to dream a little in a sporting fantasy land.
What could possibly go wrong in these conditions and with this team that they adore? They’ve been on this journey together. Two finals in three seasons at a time when the Premier League, Clasico clubs and PSG dwarf the rest of Europe financially is an absurd achievement.
It’ll be easy to forget as everyone picks at a black-and-blue carcass in the days ahead, but Simone Inzaghi’s Inter are a finely honed mix of world-class performers, such as Lautaro Martinez, Nicolo Barella and Alessandro Bastoni, authentic crowd heroes like Federico Dimarco and Francesco Acerbi and make-do-and-mend additions. Hakan Calhanoglou and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, the cast-offs who became indispensable.
✝️😂 pic.twitter.com/apdCl25J2a
— Dom Farrell (@DomFarrell1986) May 31, 2025
This young, irresistible PSG side could and would come again. This was Inter’s last chance. This is what they all came to see. A place in the history books. Oh, no… not like that.
To answer the question from a couple of paragraphs ago, what could go wrong was this PSG team — a collective built for the years to come, but a squad ready for now. Very ready. Ready to the extent that they became the first team in Champions League history to score twice in the first 20 minutes of a final.
The first came after Inter were poked and prodded perilously deep by PSG’s intricate, yet effortless, build-up play. So deep that right-back Achraf Hakimi was on hand to convert from six yards after Vitinha threaded the needle and Desire Doue left the chance on a platter.
Doue played the opening exchanges as if he was having a kickabout with his buddies at the local five-a-side. Acerbi and Dimarco were each culpable when he made it 2-0. The night cooled and faces lengthened at the Olympic Park. Thousands of people who were ready for a party becoming quiet and sad is an unusual thing to witness, punctuated as they were by sporadic pockets of PSG joy.
When the prodigious 19-year-old made it 3-0, a dejected few headed for the exits, the U-Barn and the solace of their hotel rooms. They didn’t need to see the wondrous Khvicha Kvaratskhelia slathering on more misery, much less substitute Senny Mayulu making this the biggest Champions League final victory of all time.
The main fella on the accordion here playing the hits for PSG fans pic.twitter.com/Wrw9mbdMUj
— Dom Farrell (@DomFarrell1986) May 31, 2025
The night and the early hours of the morning were for the Parisians. For the Nerazurri, once the dust settles, they can reflect on the unforgettable moments Inzaghi and this team have bestowed upon them. You’d be rightly waved away as a glib idiot for telling them that it’s actually more about the journey than the destination with defeat so raw, but there’s plenty of truth in that.
Inter were caught cold and battered into submission in Munich, but they’ve given those roaming 40,000 memories to last a lifetime. Apart from our dead-legging friend from Marienplatz. It’s probably for the best that he won’t remember a thing.
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