Helenio Herrera's team that famously perfected the art of "catenaccio" beat Madrid 3-1 to lift the European Cup in Vienna in 1964 and retained the trophy with a 1-0 win over Benfica a year later. This will be their sixth final altogether. Reaching the final in Istanbul is a huge moment for Italian football, with Inter aiming to become the first Champions League winners from the country since they lifted the trophy under Jose Mourinho in 2010. Inter have shown themselves to be cup specialists - they also have the Coppa Italia final against Fiorentina on May 24 as they seek to retain that trophy. They are back up to third in Serie A, meaning Champions League qualification for next season is now likely regardless of what happens against Real Madrid or Manchester City in the final. Fast forward a month and they are now on an eight-game winning run. They had taken just four points from seven league games. They then beat Benfica 5-3 on aggregate in the quarter-finals, but a 1-0 home league defeat by Monza on April 15, just before the second leg of that European tie, left Inter sixth in Serie A, five points adrift of the top four. Reaching the final seemed improbable just a few weeks ago, after Inter narrowly edged out Porto in the last 16. We always believed we could do it, we have had an extraordinary journey," coach Simone Inzaghi told broadcaster Mediaset. It allowed the blue and black half of the city to avenge Champions League exits to their rivals in the 2003 semi-finals - on the now-scrapped away goals rule - and the 2005 quarter-finals.
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