CITY’S ROD
Rodri unlocks cagey Inter to deliver the treble dream for Mansour
MANCHESTER CITY seized immortality in Istanbul.
Rodri’s second-half strike ensured Pep Guardiola’s men became European champions for the first time - and emulated rivals Manchester United with a Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup treble.
It wasn’t pretty. In fact, Inter made sure that it was downright ugly.
But this was a night when City showed that their beautiful football comes with an edge.
Rodri was the matchwinner - but it needed a stunning 89th-minute save by Ederson and a goal-line clearance by Ruben Dias (right) to claim a place in history.
You can be sure that the 30,000
Blues celebrating on the banks of the Bosphorus won’t give a damn about all the talk of this magnificent achievement being accompanied by an asterisk.
They even got over the line without playmaker Kevin De Bruyne.
The Belgian, poleaxed out of the Champions League Final two years ago by Chelsea’s Antonio Rudiger, had his night cut short by a firsthalf hamstring injury.
It was Guardiola’s first Champions League triumph since he led Barcelona to their second title in three seasons in 2011.
How the Catalan will have enjoyed making the critics who said he couldn’t do it without Lionel Messi choke on their words. City owner
Sheikh Mansour (above) had flown in from Abu Dhabi to see if his dream could come true. He had only ever watched his team in the flesh once – visiting the Etihad for a 3-0 victory over Liverpool in 2010. City fans of a more mature vintage would have remembered the Blues had previous with Istanbul. It was on the banks of the Bosphorus 55 years ago that their first foray into the European Cup came to an abrupt end in the preliminary round when they suffered a shock defeat to Fenerbahce. Coach Malcolm Allison had famously warned that the Blues would “terrify Europe”. Mike Summerbee played that night
– and the 80-year-old was in the Ataturk Stadium in his role as club ambassador. Inter are European football royalty. The Nerazzurri were looking for their fourth success in this competition - the last coming in 2010 when Jose Mourinho bested Guardiola’s Barcelona in the semis.
But City had obliterated Bayern Munich and Real Madrid on their way to the Final.
The question now was could they handle the pressure of being overwhelming favourites?
Two years ago in Porto, they froze and were beaten by Chelsea. This was another battle of attrition. Guardiola opted to leave out Kyle Walker, deciding he could do without the full-back’s pace when it allowed John Stones to move into midfield.
Inter’s intention was not to allow the Premier League champions to get into their stride – and at one point former City striker Edin Dzeko was tackling Jack Grealish after dropping in at right-back. Boss Simone Inzaghi’s plan worked. It was so cagey it could have been played behind bars. When City quickened the pace, De Bruyne carved out a chance for Erling Haaland but the Norwegian shot too close to Andre Onana.
De Bruyne forced Onana into another save but moments later went down clutching his hamstring and was eventually forced off for Phil Foden. It was a huge blow,
The battle of attrition continued after the break, with City probing and Inter refusing to play ball.
Romelu Lukaku replaced Dzeko after 56 minutes and moments later, Bernardo Silva’s poor pass and Manuel Akanji’s indecision gave Inter skipper Lautaro Martinez a chance that forced Ederson into his first save.
Guardiola was pleading with his players for more care after a wasteful Haaland pass let Inter off the hook.
He got his wish in the 69th minute when Rodri put them ahead. Akanji and Silva opened Inter up down the right and when his cross was deflected into the path of the Spaniard, he found the corner with a fierce finish.
Inter were almost level when Federico Dimarco sent a looping header off the crossbar before heading his goal-bound follow-up off Lukaku.
Lukaku then fired at Ederson before Guardiola sent on Walker with eight minutes left as City held on for the biggest prize of them all.