MANCHESTER CITY JOIN the pantheon of the greats with a Champions League win that secures a historic Treble and allows for the nature of the performance to be redundant.
They will only remember this tense, scrappy, and almost frightful night in Istanbul with nothing but fondness.
No one will judge this Pep Guardiola side on how poorly and disjointed they played.
They will only remember the glory – although those 115 counts of financial breaches which hang over the club from the Premier League could yet bring another day of reckoning.
But tonight and tomorrow and in the tributes which will follow, it will be about the football.
They have matched the feat of Manchester United by winning the Premier League, FA Cup and European Cup in the same season.
Twenty four years on, this is a very different time. It belongs to City after Rodri’s 68th-minute goal proved enough to beat Inter Milan.
Yet even on a night when they managed to emerge from the shadows of United, shades of Barcelona back in 1999 came flooding back in the final action of the game.
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Federico Dimarco’s in-swinging corner in the sixth minute of added time was met at the near post by a glancing header from Robin Gosens that threatened the City goal. But instead of an outstretched Inter leg to prod into the roof of the net a la Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ederson was on hand to punch the ball away.
In the final minute of normal time it was the goalkeeper’s left shin which proved so crucial, although it will go down as a miss for the ages from Romelu Lukaku. One which will be retold and remembered through the prism of the greatest pain and ultimate relief.
So while it was a night of triumph for City, it will also be one which will haunt the dreams of Lukaku – and perhaps many of his waking moments.
Somehow, somehow, the Belgian international could not direct his free header from inside the centre of the six-yard box into the City goal.
Gosens had risen above Bernardo Silva at the back post to direct his own header across goal. Lukaku had spun off Manuel Akanji and got between Ruben Dias. He had time to weigh up his position and the flight of the ball. There were four or five yards of space to Ederson’s left having followed the earlier flight of the cross to the back.
He was scrambling, and he will be forever grateful to the wastefulness of Lukaku whose tepid header was straight at him.
When the ball then rebounded off the retreating Dias and didn’t deflect in for an own goal, Inter knew their race was run.
They did their best to rally after Rodri’s goal, Dimarco striking the crossbar with a looping header that got the better of Ederson. Again, the rebound couldn’t find its way towards goal, the Italian’s follow up bouncing off the ankle of Lukaku.
While he could do little about that, the chance that followed in the 89th minute was one he should have made count.
Instead it will be the number three – or perhaps 115 – on everyone’s lips after this crowning glory.
City owner Sheikh Mansour was even in attendance, just the second competitive game in 15 years, to witness the moment this Abu Dhabi projected was centred around.
Guardiola is the manager who, after seven season and one losing final in 2021, has delivered a triumph that take his own tally to three.
Two of those were with Barcelona, and he will now surely look to equal that tally with a City side that may have just gotten over the biggest mental hurdle to total European domination.
When Kevin De Bruyne limped off in the first half with a hamstring injury others may have begun to think their time would never come – especially as Inter were so doggedly denying them any chance to find their stride.
But this is a City side which, this season more than ever, have not allowed for the dream of the underdog to take hold.
In the Premier League they obliterated all before them from the turn of the year to grind down Arsenal’s brittle desires.
United were eased out of the way in the FA Cup final last weekend, dispatched in an almost dismissive fashion with a view to being primed for this ultimate night of European glory.
The Treble and immortality awaited, but City’s performance up until their breakthrough goal was one of a side who didn’t seem ready to actually grasp it.
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Lukaku's miss for the ages a brutal end as City deny dream of the underdog to come true
MANCHESTER CITY JOIN the pantheon of the greats with a Champions League win that secures a historic Treble and allows for the nature of the performance to be redundant.
They will only remember this tense, scrappy, and almost frightful night in Istanbul with nothing but fondness.
No one will judge this Pep Guardiola side on how poorly and disjointed they played.
They will only remember the glory – although those 115 counts of financial breaches which hang over the club from the Premier League could yet bring another day of reckoning.
But tonight and tomorrow and in the tributes which will follow, it will be about the football.
They have matched the feat of Manchester United by winning the Premier League, FA Cup and European Cup in the same season.
Twenty four years on, this is a very different time. It belongs to City after Rodri’s 68th-minute goal proved enough to beat Inter Milan.
Yet even on a night when they managed to emerge from the shadows of United, shades of Barcelona back in 1999 came flooding back in the final action of the game.
Federico Dimarco’s in-swinging corner in the sixth minute of added time was met at the near post by a glancing header from Robin Gosens that threatened the City goal. But instead of an outstretched Inter leg to prod into the roof of the net a la Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, Ederson was on hand to punch the ball away.
In the final minute of normal time it was the goalkeeper’s left shin which proved so crucial, although it will go down as a miss for the ages from Romelu Lukaku. One which will be retold and remembered through the prism of the greatest pain and ultimate relief.
So while it was a night of triumph for City, it will also be one which will haunt the dreams of Lukaku – and perhaps many of his waking moments.
Somehow, somehow, the Belgian international could not direct his free header from inside the centre of the six-yard box into the City goal.
Gosens had risen above Bernardo Silva at the back post to direct his own header across goal. Lukaku had spun off Manuel Akanji and got between Ruben Dias. He had time to weigh up his position and the flight of the ball. There were four or five yards of space to Ederson’s left having followed the earlier flight of the cross to the back.
He was scrambling, and he will be forever grateful to the wastefulness of Lukaku whose tepid header was straight at him.
When the ball then rebounded off the retreating Dias and didn’t deflect in for an own goal, Inter knew their race was run.
They did their best to rally after Rodri’s goal, Dimarco striking the crossbar with a looping header that got the better of Ederson. Again, the rebound couldn’t find its way towards goal, the Italian’s follow up bouncing off the ankle of Lukaku.
While he could do little about that, the chance that followed in the 89th minute was one he should have made count.
Instead it will be the number three – or perhaps 115 – on everyone’s lips after this crowning glory.
City owner Sheikh Mansour was even in attendance, just the second competitive game in 15 years, to witness the moment this Abu Dhabi projected was centred around.
Guardiola is the manager who, after seven season and one losing final in 2021, has delivered a triumph that take his own tally to three.
Two of those were with Barcelona, and he will now surely look to equal that tally with a City side that may have just gotten over the biggest mental hurdle to total European domination.
When Kevin De Bruyne limped off in the first half with a hamstring injury others may have begun to think their time would never come – especially as Inter were so doggedly denying them any chance to find their stride.
But this is a City side which, this season more than ever, have not allowed for the dream of the underdog to take hold.
In the Premier League they obliterated all before them from the turn of the year to grind down Arsenal’s brittle desires.
United were eased out of the way in the FA Cup final last weekend, dispatched in an almost dismissive fashion with a view to being primed for this ultimate night of European glory.
The Treble and immortality awaited, but City’s performance up until their breakthrough goal was one of a side who didn’t seem ready to actually grasp it.
Now they have, who will force them to let go?
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Champions League Final Historic Manchester City