Manchester City already has the Champions League title that they dreamed of and chased. A goal from Spaniard Rodri Hernández in the 68th minute allowed the English team to break the curse that tormented them in Europe and defeat Inter Milan 1-0 in the final in Istanbul this Saturday.
In a duel in which City, clearly favorites, suffered unspeakably and lost his brain Kevin de Bruyne to injury in the first half, coach Pep Guardiola was also able to win his first Champions League away from Barcelona, where he had won the titles in 2009 and 2011.
Rodri, a former player for Villarreal and Atlético Madrid, does not lavish himself on scoring goals. In fact, he had only scored one this season, also in the Champions League, in the quarterfinals against Bayern Munich.
But he disguised himself as Erling Haaland, with his 52 goals this season, and shot Cameroonian goalkeeper André Onana in the 68th minute, after a pass back from the Portuguese Bernardo Silva, when City had the worst.
And it is that until then, the usual 3-5-2 arranged by Simone Inzaghi, created many problems. The Italian spider web seemed to engulf City’s soccer and goal machine. Pep Guardiola’s team found difficulties and the English team’s nervousness was latent, with their Brazilian goalkeeper Ederson hesitating in some actions.
That did not prevent City from enjoying the best chance in the early stages, with a run on the right by Portuguese Bernardo Silva, whose shot passed close to the Italian goal.
But that City opportunity seemed like an isolated event. The English team was not imposed. It was not the team that had won the Premier and the FA Cup and that had scored 31 goals in twelve games in the Champions League. An unknown and nervous City was seen against a comfortable and emboldened Inter.
Pep Guardiola gesticulated and sent orders to Kevin De Bruyne. Something was not working as planned. Haaland, the City star, was always surrounded by two or three defenders to cut off any pass. Neither the English midfield had spaces, nor the Norwegian striker.
Guardiola had repeated that there was no favorite despite the fact that all the forecasts were for his team to win. That only the final ninety minutes counted, not the previous games. And Inter was determined to agree with the Catalan coach. The ghost of the final lost in 2021 by City against Chelsea appeared threatening.
But a genius from De Bruyne in the form of a pass to Haaland in the 27th minute that ended with the Norwegian’s shot into the body of Inter’s Cameroonian goalkeeper André Onana seemed to give City hope back. In the stands of the Turkish stadium, Sheikh Mansour, the Emirati owner of City since 2008, was uneasy at the lack of spark in the English team.
De Bruyne, a loss that Manchester City felt a lot
The concern increased with the substitution of one of their key players, De Bruyne, injured, who left his place in the 36th minute to Phil Foden. If City seemed uninspired, without his brain they could be less so.
If City had lost their Belgian player, Inter made use of theirs, Romelu Lukaku, in the 56th minute, substituting for Bosnian Edin Dzeko in attack to accompany Argentine Lautaro Martínez. Precisely the man from Río de la Plata, who had been off until then, appeared in the 58th minute, taking advantage of a backward pass from City to be left alone against Ederson, but his shot was cleared by the Brazilian goalkeeper.
But football is not an exact science and when it seemed to be at its worst, without De Bruyne, City’s other two high-flying midfielders emerged. Bernardo Silva made a foray down the right and his pass to the back was finished off by Rodri into the net in the 68th minute.
Inter did not give up and had their best chance two minutes later, with Demarco’s strike against the crossbar. The rebound was finished off again by the Italian midfielder himself, but his attempt found the body of his teammate Lukaku.
It was the last cartridge for Inter, who will have to wait to win their fourth Champions League, in an unfortunate European season for Italian football, which also saw them lose the Europa League final to Roma and the Conference to Fiorentina.
SPORTS
with AFP
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