Manchester City defeat Inter Milan 1-0 to win the 2023 Champions League
For the first time in seven seasons as coach of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola can rest easy. His greatest goal — winning the Champions League with the club — has finally been achieved.
City survived a messy, physical final to beat Inter Milan 1-0 in Istanbul. It's the club's first Champions League victory in its 143-year history.
The win didn't come easy for City, especially in the first half. Inter set up in a solid, biting 3-5-2 formation that flooded the midfield and kept the Citizens from building up any momentum. Defenders Alessandro Bastoni and Francesco Acerbi effectively marked Erling Haaland and Ilkay Gundogan out of the game, while Denzel Dumfries distracted Jack Grealish and prevented him from building up attacks on the wing.
It was a rough start for the Citizens, made infinitely worse by the early substitution of Kevin De Bruyne. The midfielder went down holding his hamstring in the 36th minute and had to leave the game. It's the second time De Bruyne has been injured and substituted early in a Champions League final; fans will remember his tearful exit in 2021 after ending up on the wrong side of an Antonio Rudiger tackle.
After De Bruyne's injury, it seemed like nothing was going to go City's way. Goalkeeper Ederson had an uncharacteristically difficult evening, misplacing passes and opening up opportunities for Inter to attack. While City held on throughout the chaos, the team's nerves were apparent.
Those nerves weren't soothed until the second half. City found space in Inter's half and Rodri — a defensive midfielder who rarely scores — found a perfect angle and let fly. The ball soared within millimeters of two Inter defenders before crashing into the back of the net.
Inter held their shape but were unable to find an equalizing goal. Striker Romelu Lukaku got in the way of one goal-bound shot and scuffed a second wide. Goalie André Onana argued with Haaland while precious minutes slipped off the game clock. Inter started the game well, but by the time the final whistle blew in Istanbul, City was the clear victor.
It's a history-making night for Manchester City. This is the club's first Champions League trophy and first treble; the team won the domestic league, the domestic cup and the Champions League in 2023. Trebles are rare — the last time an English team achieved one was in 1999.
City's victory is the final step of a reinvention that began in 2008, when the UAE's Sheikh Mansour bin Zayed al Nahyan bought a majority stake in the club with the goal of turning it into a championship contender. Mansour's investment was criticized for its lack of fairness and inspired strict financial regulations, called Financial Fair Play (FFP), for other European clubs. FFP was created to prevent big-money takeovers like City's but so far has only served to ensure that City stand alone at the top of Europe's financial pyramid. The club's treble is impressive, but it does highlight an unfortunate truth: that soccer success is increasingly settled in the checkbook rather than on the field.
Still, the night meant so much to City fans, many of whom followed the club long before Sheikh Mansour's takeover, and Guardiola, who put his heart and soul into City's success. For them, this moment has been a long time coming. The Champions League trophy is finally heading to Manchester.
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