He sweated, but he made it. He hit rock hard like never before, but he pushed on. He suffered, but he overcame. Manchester City were justly crowned in Istanbul with the first Champions League in their history to complete a sensational treble. As in 2009 with Barça, Josep Guardiola led his team to victory in all three category competitions. The one that cost him the most, last night against a fighting Inter. It won't be a game for football lovers to watch again and again, rather the opposite, but it will undoubtedly be an unforgettable game for a team that has made good play its hallmark. In the final, he couldn't put it into practice as he would have liked, but a shot from the Spaniard Rodrigo in the second half helped him to achieve the summit he was missing. No one can argue with City as the king of modern day football, as the pattern to look up to and admire. Even if yesterday it was his turn to row, fight and even tell the time. That's also how you win.
The British team was presented as the clear favorite. Guardiola assumed it and so did Simone Inzaghi, delighted with the label of cover-up with which Italian football has lived since ancient times, a specialist in finding antidotes to any masterful formula.
Inzaghi's, advance the pressure more than expected, do not close back so as not to feel a possible overwhelm from start to finish and play with time. In other words, if someone could leave little by little, better than in a hurry. If there are stops, ideal. If there is no rhythm, even better. This approach of the Lombard team surprised a City whose legs trembled with the nerves of those who feel the responsibility.
Sometimes what costs the most is doing something for the first time and Guardiola's team was looking to inaugurate their showcase for the Champions League. Maybe that's why only a herculean Rúben Dias was flawless in the cut, while Rodrigo, in the end the protagonist, didn't quite take the reins in the center of the field. Between the fact that Inter neutralized the spaces like an accordion and that Manchester City was afraid of making some fatal mistake, the game was transiting in the offensive frenzy.
Only occasionally was the Istanbul night peppered with some brushstrokes. Like a poisoned shot by Bernardo Silva that went close to the penalty area. Although the only real chance in the first half came near the half-hour mark when De Bruyne flicked the switch and activated Håland, who until then had been nothing more than a latent threat. The Norwegian's hard shot was stopped by Onana.
The match seemed to be on, but De Bruyne, after a long shot, injured his right thigh. Just like two years ago, the Belgian had to leave the final early due to an injury. A hard blow for the interests of Guardiola's team, which was losing its most important creative focus. Foden came out and the game didn't change much.
Inter, which it is true had only created danger in that phase, were making City sweat the bacon. Nothing to do with the semi-final match in which the English went over Madrid with good rock and roll football. Here the dance was different, with short distances and a lot of breaking and tearing, because the referee allowed contact.
Guardiola had work for the intermission. The one from Santpedor had to shake the tree of his team because the theoretical superiority of City was nowhere to be seen. However, the passage through the changing rooms did not activate the ideas of the skyblue team, which is increasingly less clairvoyant with the ball.
Only Stones with his starts generated superiority. Meanwhile, Inter continued to feed their faith and Lautaro Martínez came close to taking advantage of a misunderstanding between Bernardo Silva and Akanji. Ederson had to appear with his body to cover the Argentinian's shot. Not even Dzeko's injury, which gave way to Lukaku, seemed to worry Inter. The game was on the brink, as the Italians wanted, but City won the chapter. In a foray down the right, Akanji leaked a ball towards Bernardo Silva, and the Portuguese's cross went into the heart of the area. That's where Rodrigo appeared to connect an unappealable shot, which freed City and its parish.
It was clear that the goal had not yet been conceded when Inter came close to equalizing with a parabolic header from Dimarco that went over the crossbar. At last the party was stirring. At last the show was growing and Lukaku also tested Ederson. In the other area, Foden squandered the sentence with a shot that was too focused, even though for focused shots, a header from Lukaku that the citizen goalkeeper took out with his foot. On that occasion, Inter had a 1-1 draw. But it didn't come. History embraces the City.
