Manchester City Defeated Inter Milan to win UEFA Champions League
On Saturday, Manchester City finally experienced Champions League triumph as a second-half Rodri goal handed the favorites a 1-0 victory over Inter Milan in the dramatic championship game, enabling Pep Guardiola’s team to complete an incredible treble.
At the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, Rodri scored from a Bernardo Silva cutback midway through the second half to seal the victory in a match when City struggled to find their typical rhythm and lost Kevin De Bruyne to injury.
Erling Haaland, who has 52 goals this season, failed to score for the fifth game in a row, but City still had enough to defeat opponents who were never anticipated to advance this far.
City is the first English team to accomplish a triple since Manchester United in 1999 after winning the FA Cup in addition to their fifth Premier League victory in six seasons.
24 years ago, City defeated Gillingham in the third-tier play-off final of England on penalties.
Two years after losing to Chelsea in their first final, they have now cemented their position as England’s dominating team and have added the biggest trophy in European club football.
Owner Sheikh Mansour, who rarely attends Manchester City games, watched the game as his squad completed their transformation from underdogs to world champions since he acquired the club in 2008.
Guardiola’s 3ird Winning title
While this is going on, Guardiola joins a select group of coaches who have won the Champions League three times, 12 years after last hoisting the trophy with Barcelona.
Although City defeated RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich, and Real Madrid to advance to the final, Inter saw Federico Dimarco and replacement Romelu Lukaku both almost equalize late in the game.
Inter had wanted to catch everyone off guard and win the trophy a fourth time. Although Simone Inzaghi’s team will compete again the next season, it was not to be.
In addition to rival United’s three championships, a victory for Guardiola’s team makes Manchester, after Milan, the only city to have produced two separate competition winners.
The drama of the previous Champions League final hosted at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium did not compare to this one.
In this match in 2005, Liverpool won after coming back from a three-goal deficit against AC Milan to level 3-3 and win on penalties.
Nevertheless, it also went off without a hitch, a year after turmoil clouded the championship game at the Stade de France in Paris, even if the stadium’s location around 25 kilometers west of the center of Istanbul made it difficult for fans to get there.
De Bruyne comes off with Injury
Manchester City anticipated Inter to come out and try to stop them, and the first half went according to plan for the Italians because Nathan Ake started in place of Kyle Walker in defense.
They pressed and snatched at City’s heels, but Guardiola’s team had the finest opportunity when De Bruyne set up Haaland for a shot that Andre Onana expertly stopped.
On minute 36, De Bruyne, who was injured in the 2021 championship game, left the game and was replaced by Phil Foden. This was a big setback for Manchester City.
The game began just as the possibility of overtime and a final lasting past midnight emerged.
On the 68th minute, City scored after Lautaro Martinez was given a chance by a poor Silva ball back towards his own goal.
Silva was located in the box by Manuel Akanji’s ball, and his cutback was intercepted by an Inter defender before falling to Rodri, who scored.
The crucial Spanish midfielder scored again in the game after his outstanding goal against Bayern in the first leg of the quarterfinal.
Even though Inter’s defense was shattered, they almost immediately pulled even when a Dimarco header hit the crossbar.
In the 88th minute, they almost succeeded once more as Ederson managed to obstruct a Lukaku shot that was headed towards the goal.
It was finally Manchester City’s turn after getting really close in recent Champions League campaigns.
