Inter are not a defensive team, but their backline is a huge reason why they have done so well in Europe this season.
Inzaghi’s side have conceded only three goals in 11 Champions League games this season, an average of 0.27 goals per game.
That is the second lowest tally in the competition’s history, after city rivals AC Milan conceded 0.25 per game on their way to becoming European champions in 1993-94.
That figure is even more remarkable given the age of their key defenders.
Goalkeeper Sommer is 36 and centre-back Stefan de Vrij is 33, while Matteo Darmian and Francesco Acerbi – the latter kept Kane quiet in the first leg last week – are 35 and 37.
With midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan, 36, joining Acerbi, Darmian and Sommer in the starting XI in the first leg, Inter became the first team to name four players over the age of 35 in their line-up for a Champions League knockout match.
“It’s about match-ups and man marking v zonal,” Italian football journalist David Ferrini told BBC Sport.
“Inzaghi wants intelligent central defenders who can throw world-class strikers like Kane and Leroy Sane off the scent, or coerce them into panicked decision making.
“Just one chink in the system can be decisive and we saw how dominant [left-back] Carlos Augusto was against Konrad Laimer.”
But don’t be fooled into thinking Inter just park the bus.
Inter applied 573 high-intensity pressures against Bayern in the first leg, the most by a team in a Champions League match this season – including games that went to extra time.
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exeter.one newsbite last confirmed 4 days ago by Alex Brotherton
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