1. A deep pass to Bernardo Silva broke the monotony of Man City's attack, midway through the second half of the jelly-like final. Akanji passed it to him and the Portuguese returned it to Rodri to score the most important goal in Man City history.
Pep makes history with Man City
1-0 for Man City. The explosive power helped break down the solid wall of Inter and allowed Pep Guardiola to win his first Champions League title since leaving Barcelona.
His 35th title after 15 seasons of professional coaching and perhaps the most harrowing. This also helped Guardiola overcome a threshold that no other coach has done: winning two trebles with two different teams.
Pep Guardiola built two legendary clubs in two different countries, different football backgrounds and different cultures.
"On this day 14 years ago, I won the treble with Barcelona and 3 is Johan Cruyff's number," Guardiola said after the final in Istanbul. “I am grateful to the sporting director (Txiqui Beriguistain) and the team CEO (Ferran Soriano). They always support me.”
Pep has the absolute backing for his current success, admitting a bit of luck. “Many people fire coaches and cancel projects when they don't win the Champions League. The team suffered, we could have lost twice at the end of the game."
Victory at Ataturk confirms the project that Man City pursues with Pep. Not for a moment did the UAE owners as well as the duo Beriguistain and Soriano lose a bit of faith in him.
"I feel that this Champions League attests to the five Premier League titles we have won since 5," argued Guardiola.
The Spaniard emphasized: "If the whole world says we need the Champions League to be recognized, it is probably true. Sometimes you just need this kind of luck which in the past, against Chelsea (final 2020-21) or Tottenham (quarter-final 2018-19), we didn't have."
2. Pep Guardiola asks for "patience". He mentioned this request to the players on Tuesday, on the training ground, and insisted on Saturday before the ball started rolling and also at halftime of the final.
It is an important virtue, a panacea for problems in all competitions. Off the touchline at Ataturk, Guardiola continued to impart patience to his players throughout the battle with Inter.
When the final started, the first thing that happened was confusion among many of the City players. On the other side, goalkeeper Andre Onana received the ball from the back passes, and when City tried to pressurize, he broke the ball far into the stands.
The ball left Onana's feet and flew through a cloud of kerosene and sulfur that covered the air from the pre-match ceremony. The message reached the 70.000 spectators present at Ataturk: to beat the Italian team, you need to be more patient than they are.
Guardiola built Man City by recruiting the best, most aggressive players within his reach in the transfer market. They were masters of the art of moving the ball at breakneck speed, and he fueled that rage with selfless sacrifice.
Man City had a tough game but it was worth it
Until entering the decisive match. Duels like the first leg of the semi-final against Real Madrid at the Bernabeu, the FA Cup final against MU, or the final that just took place in Istanbul.
After that, Pep began to adjust his tactics. Where Guardiola used to ask for pressure, rhythm, control of pace and space, now he demands caution.
Patience, in the language interpreted in the Man City dressing room, means being careful with risky passes, avoiding the ball falling into the opponent's hands and causing a deadly counter-attack.
In this way, the calm and sometimes pausing of the ball can lead to confusion in Man City players accustomed to fast kicks. For a long time, Pep tried to build this habit to impose in the final, as well as the first leg against Real Madrid.
As Inter were in no hurry, the final passed without recording anything but performances of order, rigor and safety. Interspersed with the fight are times when Guardiola screams, sometimes on his knees, to alert some players to mistakes (at least Ederson, Akanji and Bernardo Silva startled Man City with the passing error).
For more than an hour, the Man City fans, who were not as familiar with Istanbul as the Italians and arrived later, were confused. Then it all exploded with Rodri's artistic right foot.
3. “We didn't deserve to lose,” summed up Simone Inzaghi after receiving the silver medal. “We played a great final. I hug all my boys, one by one.”
Acerbi, Brozovic, Darmian and Dzeko are all over 30 years old. The slow circulation gives them oxygen. The long match suits them. Every minute that passes with the score 0-0 increases confidence for Inter.
Pep and the hero Rodri
The final that many consider to be one of the most unbalanced matches in history came to an astonishing end. Man City and Inter share the same chances and dangerous attacks. But the British champion was a bit luckier.
"I played really badly in the first half, but the coach encouraged me and told me to act like a leader," happy hero Rodri. “Scoring in the Champions League final shows that anyone who works hard is possible. I was going to kick the ball really hard, but in the end I said to myself: put your mind to it."
Inter, in the final where the catenaccio was effectively operated, pushed Man City into a difficult position. Only, the finishing phase was associated with the disappointment of Dimarco and his teammates. They're out of luck, but that's football.
Man City escaped misery to win the Champions League and complete the great treble, in Guardiola's 3st victory of the tournament. Only Carlo Ancelotti (101) and Alex Ferguson (191) surpassed him. Pep is truly a living football legend.
"Watch out, Real Madrid, we'll come to you!" Guardiola joked during the press conference. "We just need 13 more championships to catch up." From now on, Man City has an important place in the temple of European football history.
Clubs that won the treble in European football:
– 1966-67: Celtic
– 1971-72: Ajax
– 1987-88: PSV
– 1998-99: MU
– 2008-09: Barcelona
– 2009-10: Inter
– 2012-13: Bayern Munich
– 2014-15: Barcelona
– 2019-20: Bayern Munich
– 2022-23: Man City
According to NGOC HUY (Vietnamnet)
