“It was written in the stars,” said an emotional Pep Guardiola, Manchester City’s manager, after his club lifted the UEFA Champion’s League (CL) Trophy on Saturday night at Istanbul. It was a tense, edgy night with Manchester City nowhere near their best. Inter Milan were worthy rivals having fought a hard battle. Manchester City were lucky and you need that bit of luck to win these trophies. Besides, given how imperious Manchester City were this season, it would be churlish to grudge them their luck.
Manchester City are only the second English team to win the treble — the EPL title, FA Cup and the UEFA Champion’s Trophy — the first being their cross-town rivals Manchester United in 1999. This was a trophy that Manchester City and their fans craved for and so much of Guardiola’s reputation rested on it, especially after they were edged out by Chelsea in 2021 CL finals.
With this win, there can be no argument over Manchester City being the best football club in the world and Guardiola the best manager.
The final itself was won on the finest of margins — a marvellous strike by Rodrigo in the 68th minute — with the match hanging in balance till the very last minute of the game when Inter’s Robin Gosen’s flicked header off a corner was tipped over by Manchester City’s goalkeeper Ederson who brought off some crucial saves all night. Seconds later the referee blew the whistle much to the joy and relief of Manchester City and their fans.
Manchester City’s familiar slick, passing and possession based game was nowhere on display — their iconic player Erling Haaland having only one shot on target all night. But in the end they held on. Being owned by the Abu Dhabi United Group, Manchester City’s dominance does raise some troubling questions about the economic and power asymmetry in the football world, but that’s for another day. For now Manchester City’s achievement this season needs to be celebrated.