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Guardiola's famed City finally have the most desired trophy that is the Champions League after winning a very rough final against Inter. Although admiration is achieved through play, recognition and respect is achieved with titles and especially with the European Cup. It was not exactly a solemn or happy match for the figures but it was resolved with a goal from one of the best mid-distance finishers that is Rodri. The 1-0 crowned in the end the young team of Manchester that coexists with the old United, the only two English that can boast of having the triple crown: League, Cup and Champions League. No one can reproach the three-time champion Guardiola for not lifting the trophy without Messi. He didn't even need Haaland's goals.
MNCM. City
1
Ederson Moraes, Manuel Akanji, Aké, Rúben Dias, Rodrigo, Gündogan, De Bruyne (Foden, min. 36), John Stones (Walker, min. 82), Erling Braut Haaland, Grealish and Bernardo Silva
INT Inter
0
Andre Onana, Darmian (D'Ambrosio, min. 84), Alessandro Bastoni (Robin Gosens, min. 75), Acerbi, Barella, Denzel Dumfries (Raoul Bellanova, min. 76), Brozovic, Calhanoglu (Mkhitaryan, min. 84), Dimarco, Dzeko (Lukaku, min. 56) and Lautaro Martínez
Goals 1-0 min. 68: Rodrigo.
Arbitrator Szymon Marciniak
Yellow cards Barella (min. 58), Lukaku (min. 83), Erling Braut Haaland (min. 91), Andre Onana (min. 92), Ederson Moraes (min. 93) and Inzaghi (min. 96)
City's triumph was as meritorious as Inter's defeat seemed commendable. The difference was that Lukaku failed to beat Ederson after Inzaghi's team had long disfigured Guardiola's. Also the field factor played in favor of the Italians because the Atatürk Olympic Stadium sounded like San Siro. The citizens seemed more spectators than followers in front of the clamor of the hardened Nerazzura fans deployed since early morning through the streets of Istanbul. The stands were Inter's, also very settled on the field, and the ball was left to City. Nothing strange on the court or in the lineups except for the presence of Akanji for the injured Walker.
The Italian plan
Inter's aggressiveness and pressure, however, gradually prevailed over City's calculating and overly patient play. Guardiola's players did not tune and Inzaghi's were stretched well on the wings, deeper Dimarco than Dumfries. Inter played as you know, very organized and safe with and without the ball, full of expert players, while City struggled to attack, excessively responsible, more compressed than released, repetitive with safety passes and without risky plays to underline, away from Onana. Ederson, on the other hand, trembled and the Nerazzurri did not let Rodri come into play. Inter's goal did not appear until it was demanded in a foreshortening by Haaland. Only the Norwegian's starts unleashed the skyblues until De Bruyne was injured. The game looked more and more like the one two years ago in Porto against Chelsea. The tension was maximum and the fear of error was imposed on the search for success even though City settled in defense and ended up subduing Inter.
Haaland's demarcations, however, subsided with de Bruyne's withdrawal. The English team lost verticality, mid-range shooting and won dribbling with the entry of Foden. Inter have always known how to play better at 0-0 than City. So the match was a knot for the English, too rigid, unable to focus on Onana. Inter's antidote worked because it was always a solid and homogeneous team, also patient and selective and today with more resources than yesterday due to the depth of its squad, as was noticed when Lukaku replaced the injured Dzeko. The Italians were biding their moment and Lautaro had the goal at his feet after being set up by Bernardo Silva and Akanji, but was cut down by a surging Ederson.
He did not forgive Rodri shortly after. Open the game, Akanji went deep for Bernardo Silva and his cross caused a pile in the area that ended with the deadly shot from half distance from City's midfielder. The goal did not overwhelm Inter because then Dimarco finished consecutively to the crossbar and against the body of Lukaku. The striker did not stop kicking nor did his team, which in the end counted more shots than City – 14 against seven – overturned on the goal of Ederson, who bagged and repelled the danger as if he lived in a favela in Rio. Equally clear in any case were the two arrivals of Foden, who was dwarfed by the feline Onana.
Manchester City, in any case, resisted and won as if it were the most successful team in the European Cup and not the champion of a Champions League that did not have an unprecedented king since 2012 with Chelsea. The need to win gripped Guardiola's modern team. The classics assure that the finals are not played, but won and the citizens culminated a dream season and a unique tournament after beating Bayern and Madrid. Guardiola becomes the only coach to have won the triple crown with two different teams: Barcelona and City. The one with Messi and the other with Haaland, although the Norwegian pichichi was a spectator of Rodri's impeccable goal. No player better represents the sense of Guardiola's game than the figure of the central midfielder, personified in Rodri. The choral work prevailed over the individual on the day City achieved glory on horseback in Europe and Asia in fascinating Istanbul.
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