Lazio and Inter will meet at the Stadio Olimpico on Wednesday evening at 20.00 BST in the 2025-26 Coppa Italia final, with the former Italy defender Marco Materazzi saying the weekend’s 3-0 Serie A win for Inter over the same opponent only hardened the view that his old club are the favourites.
Materazzi said the league game had offered “several indications,” arguing that Inter did not ease off once they had control and instead played like a side determined to “conquer everything it can.” He also pointed to the club’s structure and decision-making, saying it is “a club where few poor decisions are made.” For Lazio, the timing is awkward. They reached this final by beating Milan, Bologna and Atalanta, but they now have to respond quickly after being outplayed at the same stadium only days ago.
That match mattered because it was not an isolated flashpoint. It came at the end of a campaign in which Inter have kept moving through the competition, beating Venezia, Torino and Como to reach this stage, while Lazio have had to navigate a harder route and overturn early doubts that made their run look improbable at the start. Materazzi said that at the beginning of the campaign “nobody would have bet €1” on Lazio making the final, a judgment that now sits alongside the reality of a one-off game in Rome where one team is chasing momentum and the other is chasing an upset.
Inter will be trying to win a 10th cup title on Wednesday, while Lazio are chasing an eighth. That places the final in a narrow but important slice of Italian football history: the two clubs are among the competition’s most successful sides, and this meeting gives both a chance to add weight to their place in that hierarchy. The stakes are simple enough even without the backdrop. Inter want silverware to match the form Materazzi sees in them. Lazio want a trophy that would validate the road they have taken to get here.
Materazzi reserved some of his sharpest praise for individuals. He named Marcus Thuram as his standout player of the season so far and said he was proud of the forward’s journey after criticism and doubt earlier in the campaign. He said he had sent Thuram messages telling him not to give up and to remember how strong he is. He also said Inter look strongest when Thuram and Lautaro Martinez are both available.
Martinez, Materazzi said, has scored 17 goals in Serie A and his absence in the second leg against Bodo/Glimt because of injury was costly. He added that if Martinez had played that match, Inter’s Champions League story might have looked different. “As an Inter fan, I can only hope he leaves his mark on this final as well,” he said. Materazzi also highlighted Nicolo Barella, saying the midfielder has brought out his best qualities and delivered important goals and big performances. In a final like this, those are the details that usually decide whether a favourite just looks like one or actually behaves like one.
The tension is that Lazio already know what the scale of the task looks like. They have reached the final on merit, but they arrive after Inter’s league victory exposed the gap that still has to be closed. Wednesday evening will not be about reputation or recent noise. It will be about whether Lazio can turn a difficult week into a trophy, or whether Inter can turn a warning shot into their 10th cup title.
