Manchester City Champions League Champions

Manchester City have done it! After years of falling just short the upstarts from Manchester have broken through the glass ceiling of European football and won their first UEFA Champions League final. Despite the usual run of bad luck and some nervy moments, the reigning English Premier League champions defeated Inter Milan 1-0 to claim top honors and earn their treble. 

While it might have been easy to call Manchester City favorites in the final, in truth they were anything but. Sports is a fickle business and for the side that have taken the last decade by storm the UEFA Champions League trophy was always sort of the white whale, the one that they pined for but just always seemed out of reach. Time and time again the side valued at $4.99 billion, the side that had won seven English Premier League titles in the last decade had just fallen short. But not this time.

 Part of what had always held Manchester City back in the competition was luck. Whether it was bad injuries, a bad bounce of the ball, or spurious calls that went against them the side seemed a bit snakebitten. So it would make perfect sense why so many supporters were biting their caps in the 35 minute when Kevin de Bruyne, their superstar midfielder, was subbed off early with an hamstring injury, a nagging issue over the past season. 

“It’s been a hard two months for me. I’ve got a lot of issues with my hamstring and it’s snapped,” de Bruyne told reporters at the end of the match. “It is what it is. I did everything I could for it to be OK. It’s a real shame because I felt really good in the first half an hour. And I thought I was doing well. But the team is good enough and we won, so that’s it.” Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola thankfully had a pretty good back-up option in the form of English international Phil Foden. Foden brought a bit of youthful energy and spark to the veteran side and very nearly had the opening goal in the 53rd minute with a low shot that just went wide of the net. Inter Milan had been using a high press on City throughout the match, giving them very little room to operate in the attacking third and forcing their midfielders to take shots from distance (Erling Haaland’s left-footed effort in the 23rd minute that was saved by goalkeeper Andre Onana was the lone chance of note in an otherwise quiet first half).

But City would find the goal that they needed in the second half in the 68th minute. The sequence started with a crisp pass from Manuel Akanji into Bernardo Silva. Silva’s shot was blocked by the Inter defense but never cleared away. Thankfully for the City supporters in attendance in Istanbul Rodri was. The Portuguese international hammered home his chance from the top of the eighteen-yard box and gave City the 1-0 advantage.

With 20 minutes to spare and no longer able to hold on for extra time, Inter Milan went on the offensive. In the 71st minute they nearly had their equalizer when Federico Dimarco headed his shot off of the Manchester cross bar. He snared the rebound and zipped another header on frame. However, his chance was stopped by his teammate Romelu Lukaku, who was unable to get out of the way in time. City goalkeeper Ederson was called upon late for some last-minute heroics, making successive saves on Lukaku and Robin Gosens in the 88th minute to preserve the advantage.

With the victory, City earned their first UEFA Champions League and perhaps finally the validation that they had so coveted from the international community. No longer a side on the rise, they are now the measuring stick from which all other sides will look to compete against. Being at the top is great-now can they stay there? That will be the big question in the seasons ahead. But for now, the streets in Manchester and throughout Europe and the world run blue.