Five key battles in the Champions League final

Manchester City are heavy favourites to win their first ever Champions League as the super-rich club take on one of Europe's old guard in resurgent Inter Milan.

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Here AFP looks at the battles which could define Saturday's final in Istanbul:

Erling Haaland v Francesco Acerbi

Monster striker Haaland gives City a whole new dimension of attacking threat and if Inter are to have any chance of stopping Pep Guardiola's team they need to stay right on top of the Norwegian.

Inter have been without former captain and star centre-back Milan Skriniar, who is off to Paris Saint-Germain in the summer, for months due to a back injury and in theory there should be no match between Haaland and Acerbi.

Veteran Italy international Acerbi has been a capable replacement for Skriniar but he has not had to deal with this sort of striker, who will top the Champions League scoring charts for the second time in his career aged just 22.

The difficulty of Acerbi's task was summed up by a young fan outside Inter's training ground who gave the 35-year-old a fishing net with which to try and catch Haaland.

Kevin De Bruyne v Henrikh Mkhitaryan

Haaland might be the killer but De Bruyne is the man who loads the bullets for City and all-action midfielder Mkhitaryan will be crucial to stopping him from running riot.

De Bruyne has set up seven goals in 11 matches since the last international break, including two in City's 4-0 destruction of Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final which confirmed their passage to Istanbul.

Inter's midfield is a unit which attacks and defends as one but former Manchester United man Mkhitaryan, assuming he is fit to play,