By Samindra Kunti in Istanbul
June 11 – Manchester City and their Abu Dhabi owners claimed their first European Cup with a narrow 1-0 victory against Inter Milan to complete a historic treble. Midfielder Rodri scored the winning goal in the 68th minute in a final shorn of quality and marred by operational issues with fans struggling to access and exit the venue.
It was a textbook City strike after Rodri latched on to a Bernardo Silva pull-back to deliver a neat shot past André Onana. Rodri spun away in celebration but some City players fell to the floor in relief. They had been overcome by nerves but Rodri’s single breakthrough proved enough to win the prize that City, its coaches and owners had desired for so long.
“This is a dream come true,” said Rodri. “All these guys around here, waiting 20, 30, 40 years … I have been here just four years but they deserve; I deserve. In the last years, we were so close.”
“It wasn’t easy. What a team we faced. It was unbelievable the way they defended, the way they counter-attacked. They deserve also credit because they are a great team but I don’t want to forget about my lads. I wasn’t good in the first half, I was playing shit, to be honest. And then I just said to myself you have to overcome this mentality and I scored the goal.”
In a dramatically bad final, Manchester City repeated and replicated the jittery form of the 2021 final against Chelsea. Overwhelming favourites, they failed to match expectations. Their dominant possession-based game never materialized and instead, they were contained by a brave and disciplined Inter Milan.
Pep Guardiola once again tweaked his line-up with Nathan Ake coming in at the back, a sign that this was after all not your ordinary match. City struggled to advance the ball while Inter were content to restrict their opponents. The best two chances of the first half fell to Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland. An audacious Marcelo Brozovic tried to lob a nervous Ederson, but there was little accuracy or incisiveness in the final third.
Inter played with great intensity but failed to create little. After Rodri’s strike, Inter went very close to equalising with Dimarco sending a looping header onto the crossbar. Substitute Romelu Lukaku scuffed an attempt but should have drawn level with a downward header minutes before full-time. Ultimately, Inter did too little to trouble City.
The victory completed City’s treble after having won both the Premier League and the FA Cup. In 1999, crosstown rivals Manchester United achieved the feat under Sir Alex Ferguson when football clubs did not yet have nation states as owners. In Istanbul, Manchester City strongman Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed attended his second game ever of the Citizens. His club will represent Europe at the Club World Cup in December in Saudi Arabia.
The final was however marred by operational issues again. After the debacle of Paris in 2022, fans struggled to get to the stadium that lies 25 kilometres from the city centre and when they did arrive, drinking water and toilets were in short supply. Exiting the stadium was even more difficult, with traffic gridlock and supporters coughing up hundreds of dollars to get a taxi, often having to walk on the motorways to get one. Travel options after the match were minimal.
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