Coppa Italia and Supercoppa Italiana champions Inter Milan will be facing the English Premier League and FA Cup champions Manchester City in one of the biggest stages in world football: the UEFA Champions League Final.
Brace yourselves for a tale of perseverance, skill, and the relentless pursuit of greatness as we unveil the years that shaped Mkhitaryan’s path to the grand European final this Saturday.
The midfielder has played a crucial role in his club’s journey to the final, scoring a notable goal in the first leg of the semi-finals against city rivals AC Milan.
His game time was cut short in the second leg because of a muscle injury, but he resumed training this week and he is contention to start the final.
According to UEFA’s FedEx Performance Tracker, Mkhitaryan took a huge jump in the tournament’s midfielders’ performance rankings after that match.
Even though he is 34 years old, Mkhitaryan is an integral part of Inter’s midfielders alongside Nicolò Barella and Hakan Çalhanoğlu, as well as wing backs Denzel Dumfries and Frederico Dimarco.
The Armenian ages like a fine wine.
This is not the first time Mkhitaryan has progressed to the finals in a European club competition.
In the 2016/17 season, he helped Manchester United beat Ajax by scoring goal to win the title.
In the 2018/19 season, Mkhitaryan played a key role in helping Arsenal to reach the Europa League final. However, he was unable to travel for security reasons as the final was being held in Baku, Azerbaijan. Arsenal were defeated by the finalist opponents Chelsea.
A few seasons later in 2021/22, the former Armenian national team captain went on to the finals of the newly established UEFA Europa Conference League with his former Italian side AS Roma. He was unexpectedly injured very early in the game and was subbed off. This time, his team was on the winning end.
He is the first Armenian to have won the Europa League and the Europa Conference League, as well as the first Armenian to score in the Champions League semi-finals.
Now, there is only one game left.
Can Mkhitaryan and his Inter teammates do it?
UEFA Champions League Final, Saturday, 10th of June, 23:00 Yerevan time.
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