Manchester City 1
Inter Milan 0
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| Photo: The Independent |
Manchester City were crowned kings of Europe for the first time in their history as a second half piledriver from Rodri secured the Citizens their first ever Champions League success with Pep Guardiola's side edging out Inter Milan 1-0.
A first European final win since their 1970 Cup Winners Cup triumph twinned with their Premier League and FA Cup wins means Manchester City have also completed the treble whilst also denying their Italian opponents of achieving the same feat.
The first half was a quiet one in Istanbul with City have the only real noteworthy attempt on goal. Erling Haaland has notched an impressive tally of 49 goals in 48 games in his debut campaign with the Sky Blues, and he went close to netting for a 50th time when he was slid in behind by Kevin De Bruyne. However Cameroon international Andre Onana stood firm in the Inter goal blocking Haaland's attempt from a tight angle.
Manchester City have been a well oiled machine in recent months but a defensive mix-up almost gifted Inter the lead just before the hour mark. Some miscommunication between Manuel Akanji and Ederson gifted play to Il Biscione's top scorer Lautaro Martinez in behind, who saw his attempt from an acute angle kept out by Ederson.
This miss proved to be costly for Simone Inzaghi's outfit as ten minutes later they fell behind. Akanji slid the ball down the line for Bernardo Silva and his drag back deflected off of Lazio loanee Francesco Acerbi and into the path of Rodri who side footed a powerful strike into the bottom corner past a rooted Onana. This was Rodri's fourth goal of the season for City and his second in the Champions League.
Inter responded quickly however and within two minutes went close to finding an instant equaliser with the crossbar coming to the Citizens' rescue. A Denzel Dumfries header from the edge of the box saw the ball go over the City backline and towards Federico Dimarco. The Italian met the ball with a looping header that came back off the upright. The 25-year-old then reacted quickest to the loose ball with another header that was goal bound but blocked on the line by his own teammate Romelu Lukaku.
With one minute of normal time left on the clock it was Lukaku's turn to go close to finding an equaliser. A deep cross from Marcelo Brozovic was headed back across the face of goal by Robin Gosens to Lukaku. With the goal at his mercy all Lukaku had to do was direct the ball into the bottom corner however the Belgian's header from point blank range was straight at Ederson who made a fine reaction save to keep Inter at bay.
There was still time for the Nerazzuri to force Ederson into one final safe with what proved to be practically the last kick of the game. A Dimarco corner towards the near post was met by Gosens whose flicked header had to be punched away by Ederson.
Within seconds of this Ederson save the full time whistle was blown and Manchester City could finally celebrate their first ever Champions League trophy.
A second straight win for City completes their treble and makes up for their defeat to Chelsea in Porto in the 2021 final. Victory for the Sky Blues means their record of not losing to Italian teams goes on with the Citizens last losing to a team from Italy in 2015.
A second defeat in 14 games for Inter means it's Champions League final heartbreak for La Beneamata for the third time in their history. It is also the second time have Inter have lost a final to a British club following their 1967 defeat to Celtic.
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