Manchester City Win First-ever Champions League Title

Manchester City Win First-ever Champions League Title

One goal was all it took for Manchester City to accomplish the stuff of legends.

Rodri’s second-half goal followed recent UCL history in which the last three UEFA Champions League finals have all been won 1-0.

Pep Guardiola and this City team achieved immortality by claiming a first-ever Champions League title, the EPL, and the FA Cup.

Guardiola replaced Kyle Walker with Manuel Akanji on the right side of his three-man defensive lineup, while Simone Inzaghi gave Matteo Brozovic the nod and the captain’s band ahead of Henrikh Mkhitaryan.

As many predicted, this was a tight and cagey affair. Inter pressed high and very aggressively, leaving City with no space to develop any offensive variations from deep.

Bernardo Silva created the first scoring chance as he cut in off the right flank, but his dipping shot did not dip enough for the first goal, with Andre Onana stranded.

The normally uber-calm City goalkeeper Ederson rolled a ball directly out of play, and then he misjudged a high ball that Lautaro Martinez almost created a goal-scoring chance from. Brozovic had a shooting chance from 25 yards, but it went a long way wide.

Ederson almost created a goal out of nothing for Inter Milan in the 27th minute as his misjudged pass to John Stones was intercepted by Nicolo Barella, who tried to chip the goalkeeper but got his range wrong. A minute later, Erling Haaland got his first shooting chance after Kevin De Bruyne slipped through him, but his shot was directly at Onana.

De Bruyne went off injured in the 36th minute with a suspected hamstring injury, replaced by Phil Foden. This is the second consecutive UCL final, after the first in 2021, in which the Belgian midfielder will leave the pitch injured.

Inter were definitely the happier of the two sides going into the interval, as they succeeded in frustrating City.

A gap in communication between Akanji and Ederson gave Martinez a glimpse of City’s goal, but Ederson saved well. A Barella foul halted the counter on Foden, and the Italian midfielder received the match’s first yellow card.

The second half was a cat-and-mouse game, but City took the lead in the 68th minute after excellent approach play. Silva’s cross was defended on the byline, but the ball broke to Rodri, who guided a gorgeous finish past two Inter defenders and Onana.

Foden turned the corner with a lovely pirouette, but Onana saved the goal-bound shot. Inzaghi sent on Romelu Lukaku, Robin Gosens, and Raoul Bellanova for Edin Dzeko, Alessandro Bastoni, and Denzel Dumfries as they pushed for an equaliser.

Ederson made an instinctive save on the line in the 88th minute from a header from substitute Lukaku, but he should have scored because it was from point-blank range. Barella fired wide from outside the box in the third minute of added time as City glimpsed the finish line. Ederson made another save on the dot of five minutes, and the treble was City’s.