Manchester City, led by master tactician Pep Guardiola, won the first Champions League in their history by beating Inter Milan 1-0 in the final on Saturday in Istanbul. The Citizens succeed Real Madrid with a goal from Rodri in the 67th minute of play and achieve the hat-trick after their success in the league and the FA Cup.
Third coronation for Guardiola
For Guardiola, this is the third coronation in C1 after the two won on the bench of FC Barcelona (2009, 2011), his training club. The 52-year-old former midfielder, who has failed on the European scene at the helm of Bayern Munich (2013-2016) and Manchester City since leaving Barça, has finally broken the curse, two years after a lost final with the Mancunian club against Chelsea (1-0).
With three Champions League titles to his name, he is now just one unit behind Carlo Ancelotti, the most successful technician (4), and reaches the level of Zinédine Zidane and the Englishman Bob Paisley, also crowned in C1 three times. This victory is also a consecration for Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, vice-president of the United Arab Emirates, who saved the club from bankruptcy by buying it in 2008. Since that date, more than 1.5 billion euros have been invested in the transfer market to build a team capable of winning in the Champions League.
Mute Haaland
The final had however started very badly for City with the exit on injury in the 36th minute of its Belgian playmaker Kevin De Bruyne, visibly injured in the right thigh and replaced by the Englishman Phil Foden. The Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, author of 52 achievements this season, all competitions combined, remained silent and hardly weighed on the meeting.
For Inter Milan, reaching the final is a feat in itself and the Italian club need not be ashamed of their performance even if they fail to win back a trophy they have already lifted three times (1964 , 1965, 2010).