Despite the ‘medal’ pinned to his chest for winning the hand-to-hand duel with Haaland, for Acerbi – as well as for his teammates – only regret will remain from the night in Istanbul in June 2023 having played a great game against the colossus of Manchester City, but not being able to recover the deficit after Rodri’s goal.
Tomorrow night, in the ‘remake’ of last year’s Champions League final, the passionate duel between the strong central defender and the Norwegian cyborg will therefore be renewed. This is because Haaland has started this new season with real numbers that do not belong to us mere mortals: 9 goals scored in the first 4 Premier League games.
With a few more ailments compared to the final in June 2023 and considering the sensational form of the striker, for Acerbi the task tomorrow night will be even more difficult. It is true that the defender tends to excel especially when he crosses forwards with strong physiques, but it will especially be the Norwegian’s speed over long distances to worry the Italian.
Here the whole team will have to be good at helping not only Acerbi in marking Haaland, but the entire defensive department in containing the offensive plays of City. For this reason, we expect a lower center of gravity from the nerazzurri, so as to give as little space as possible to the open field behind Inter’s back line.
