Inter's Yellow Kits Were Catastrophic in the Champions League Final
Yes, it's time for some Football Voodoo.
I knew Inter Milan were finished as soon as they trotted out in those yellow kits. OK, that’s a lie. I thought they could still scrape out a victory in the Champions League final. But fundamentally, my faith in the Italian side was battered when I saw their getups, and it came down to one of my Football Voodoo beliefs: Kits impact performance. The right kit can power you forward. The wrong one can get you trampled, and Inter chose wrong at the Allianz Arena in Munich this weekend.
Because they did choose. They couldn’t pick their home kits, the classic blue-and-black stripes, because PSG were technically designated as the “home team.” That meant the Parisians got to wear their own dark blue kits, and Inter were relegated to “away team” status. According to the Nerazzuri’s official website, this state of affairs was “established in the tournament brackets months ago,” which is frankly bizarre. Inter finished fourth in the league phase table, PSG finished 15th, and it’s the latter who were the home team?
But let’s leave that, because Inter still had a choice: their white away kits with blue trim, or the cursèd mustards. “We had a chat, there were a number of options on the table, and we went for the yellow shirt,” Nicolò Barella explained in the lead-up. “Nothing more than that, it’s a shirt that we like and so we hope that this jersey can help us as well in this final.”
But the Gazzetta dello Sport had a more intriguing explanation: “The players chose yellow for the night at the Allianz Arena. A matter of taste, of course, and perhaps also superstition: the only defeat in this Champions League came with the white jersey on, at the BayArena in Leverkusen on December 10th.” By contrast, Inter wore the mustards twice in the Champions League this season and won both. Except those matches were against Sparta Prague and Feyenoord. Beyond any kit selection, surely it was a factor that Xabi Alonso’s Bayer Leverkusen was a much more challenging opponent than the other two?
Which is an argument against my own belief in kit sorcery, of course. PSG are simply the best Europe has to offer this season alongside FC Barcelona, whom Internazionale clawed their way past in The Greatest Cup Tie of All Time wearing … their white away kits.
OK, that was the first leg of the semifinal, which they drew 3-3 in Catalunya, but still. Surely you’ve got to keep those vibes going? Not try to resurrect the feeling of your 1-0 victory over Sparta Prague back in January? Particularly when the white is just so much cleaner, colder, sharper, more Milanese than the yellows, even if the latter’s black symbols are supposed to thematically represent the city of Milan? Like, Marcus Thuram scored that backheel in all white to put you 1-0 up away at Barcelona, and you’re going yellow?
I know, I know, none of this really matters. At least, I cannot prove it does. But ours is an age of conspiracy theories, delusion, magical thinking with disastrous results. Aren’t I allowed to Believe? Because I do. Particularly as an Arsenal fan.
In the halcyon days of 2022-23, specifically the autumn before the Winter World Cup in Qatar, I watched what had heretofore been a generationally weak Arsenal team — mentally and physically — become an absolute powerhouse, steamrolling all comers in England and playing some of the best stuff in Europe. They did it wearing some phenomenal home kits — the classic red-and-white topped by a collar with which Adidas really outdid themselves — and more importantly, those jet black aways. Suddenly, Arsenal were a team to be feared, one that could win games in the tunnel like in the days of Patrick Vieira and Sol Campbell. It helped to have some strapping lads in the squad after 15 years where featherweight attacking midfielders composed 65% of the playing staff, but also: those kits. They said: We’re going to dominate you. You are not going to enjoy this.
Of course, Arsenal went on to finish second that season. Maybe the kits weren’t powerful at all. Or maybe, like in this current campaign, key injuries at crucial moments that exposed a squad short of quality depth ultimately did them in. I choose the latter, and I choose to believe that kits matter. In fact, when the new Arsenal kits dropped in each of the two seasons since 2022-23, I’ve felt a pang of despair: We should have won it when we looked the part.
Inter just did not look the part on Saturday, even walking out on the pitch, and it only got worse when the match properly kicked off. They looked exhausted, lethargic, off the pace, old. They clearly suffered this season for a lack of squad depth, just like the Arsenal, but they also showed an incredible ability to get results using all their experience and know-how and high-end technical skill.
On the evidence in Munich, they didn’t deserve to get past Barcelona in that semifinal, but they did — when they were wearing the right kits. Realistically, it was always going to be a smash-and-grab job in the final, a tale of moments rather than some sweeping victory, if they were going to claim a first Champions League title in 15 years. The icy white kits could have helped them do it, to be cold and calculating hunters in the harsh tundra of the top level. In those mustard numbers, they looked like a snack, and PSG ate them up.⚽︎
I was traveling during the final and could only tune in for a few minutes, but my first thought when the feed came through was “what on earth are they wearing?”. Mind you, it was already 2-0 at that point! Looking the part and feeling confident in your “skin”, in your ability, is absolutely one of those soft factors we all talk about.
Also reminds me of those horrific highlighter yellow kits Arsenal had the 23/24 season. I think most fans hated them at the start of the campaign, but after several 5 and 6-0 thrashings on the road wearing those, I distinctly remember debates over whether we should wear them or the third/european away kit at Bayern in the UCL! Part of me still thinks we could have gotten a sneaky Trossard goal that day if we’d been in the high-vis monstrosities ….
Absolutely agree. You have to be a special kind of team to wear that yellow on a final. Inter was not that kind of team throughout the season. Kits matter!