Defence vs attack as Inter take on Bayern Munich

Inter Milan's domination of Italian football is total, but will Jose Mourinho's team be able to conquer Europe tomorrow night in the Bernabeu Stadium when they take on Bayern Munich in the final of the Champions League?

Inter clinched their fifth consecutive Serie A title last weekend with a 2-0 win away at Chievo, a victory that came a fortnight after they had beaten Roma to secure the Italian Cup.

In winning five league titles Inter have matched Juventus's feat of the 1930s, but for Mourinho that achievement will pale into insignificance if they beat Bayern and bring the Champions League to Milan for the first time since 1965.

"This game is the most important in the world," said the Portuguese coach this week, adding with a touch of the hyperbole for which he is loved that: "It is even bigger than the World Cup because the teams in it are at a higher level than national teams, who can't buy the best players."

But whatever one's thoughts on Mourinho, or the 'Special One' as he calls himself, there's no getting away from the fact he's done a magnificent job in steering Inter to their first Champions League final since 1972. In the previous two seasons the club failed to make it to the knockout phases but this year they've seen off some of the biggest names in world football, most notably Chelsea and reigning champions Barcelona.

The victory over Barcelona in the semi-final was earned the hard way with Inter having to go to the Nou Camp and defend a 3-1 first-leg advantage. Even reduced to ten men in the first half, the Italians held on and Mourinho says it was just reward for the way they played in the first-leg.

"I think that this season I haven't seen a match like the one between Inter and Barcelona at the San Siro," he says. "I haven't seen a team play the way we did. We attacked aggressively against the champions of Europe. We scored three goals against the champions of Europe."

But Inter are up against a Bayern side themselves in winning form. The German club have already won their domestic league and cup, and now they have their sights on their fifth Champions League title (only Real Madrid, AC Milan and Liverpool have won more). They'll be without winger Franck Ribery for the final, the Frenchman having been sent off in the semi-final defeat of Lyon, but Inter are a man down for a similar reason - midfielder Thiago Motta the unfortunate player to miss out.

And for one Bayern player the match tomorrow comes down to a contrast of styles. "It's defence v attack," claimed Bayern striker Arjen Robben, who went on to lavish praise on his coach Louis Van Gaal for the way he approaches the game. "Van Gaal wants his teams to play football and win whereas Mourinho is purely a winning coach who doesn't care about the style. Van Gaal likes to attack and play beautiful football whereas Mourinho gives a lot more importance to defence and is a boss for whom winning is the only thing that matters."

Mourinho - who was Van Gaal's assistant at Barcelona in the 1990s - responded with his customary coyness when asked if he minded comparisons being drawn between him and his rival. "It's not a problem that there's a lot of talk about the two coaches. They are two of the best in the world so that's normal." ·