Dzeko wins battle of golden oldies as Premier League myth busted on big stage

10 May 2023 , 20:57

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Edin Dzeko opened the scoring for Inter Milan (Image: Getty Images)

Is there life after the Premier League? There isn't only life, there might be a Champions League final.

It is now eight years since Edin Dzeko last kicked a ball for Manchester City, for whom he scored a mightily impressive 72 goals in 189 games during the formative years of the Sheikh Mansour era, all while never quite being the player that City managers seemed to want in the team.

The Bosnian was an unused substitute when City ended their 35-year trophy drought by beating Stoke City in the 2011 FA Cup final, and then he was on the bench on that fateful day a year later when Sergio Aguero secured the Premier League with that late, late winner against QPR.

But only after Dzeko had scored the equaliser.

Dzeko's best season in front of goal for the club then came in the 2013-14 season when he struck 26 times in all competitions, and 16 in the Premier League, as Manuel Pellegrini's side pipped Liverpool to the league title, but then a year later he was loaned out to Roma and never returned to the club.

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Yet here was Dzeko eight years on, preferred to Romelu Lukaku in the starting XI and reacting brilliantly to give Inter Milan the lead against their city rivals in the most passionate of Champions League semi-finals.

Henrikh Mkhitaryan doubled Inter's lead (AFP via Getty Images)

Finished at 37? Absolutely not. A finisher of the highest regard.

It was seven years ago Manchester United signed the attacking midfielder Henrikh Mkhitaryan from Borussia Dortmund to much acclaim, with Liverpool fans left fuming that new boss Jurgen Klopp had failed to secure a reunion with his former player and had to sign Sadio Mane instead.

Mkhitaryan failed to settle at United, moved on to Arsenal in that disastrous swap deal with Alexis Sanchez and then he too found solace and Roma and then Inter.

Olivier Giroud disappointed for Milan (Getty Images)

Here the 34-year-old found the net three minutes after Dzeko to double Inter's lead during a remarkable start which blew away their city rivals, and served to remind us in the British audience that a player is never 'finished' when they deemed no longer useful in the Premier League.

Having been picked ahead of Lukaku, who has struggled with injury this season, Dzeko had come into this game knowing that the first leg was likely to be settled by just which one of himself and Milan's Olivier Giroud stood up the tallest, such is the importance of the No.9 in both sides.

Both players, along with Mkhitaryan, Milan's Fikayo Tomori, Brahim Diaz and Divock Origi, and Inter's Matteo Darmian and Lukaku himself have all been chewed up and spat out by the Premier League, that relentless cash cow that is always looking for the next big name and the shiny new toy.

These are still excellent players though, and players that can contribute to an occasion such as this, when football's soul was on show and shouted down from the San Siro stands.

It was a night to remember the life outside Our League.

Mark Jones