Pep Guardiola has finally led Manchester City to win their first UEFA Champions League title in the club’s history after seven years at the club.
On Saturday, June 10, 2023, Premier League champions, Manchester City clashed with three times UEFA Champions League winners Inter Milan at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey. And as expected, the best chances in the game fell into the hands of Manchester City who became the first English club since 1999 to win the treble – the Premier League, FA Cup, and the Champions League.
In the 27th minute, Erling Haaland had the best chance of the first half when he shot the ball directly at Inter Milan’s goalkeeper André Onana who stood his ground against the shot.
After the first half hour of the encounter, the biggest threat for Manchester City came when the club’s prolific attacking midfielder, Kevin De Bruyne couldn’t continue due to fitness issues.
Coach Pep Guardiola was forced to substitute him in the 36th minute for English youngster Phil Foden who gave a very good account of himself.
The first half ended 0-0 with no yellow card for the two teams in the fiercely contested game.
The second half started as cagey as most parts of the first half ended but Manchester City looked more determined to open the resilient defense of Inter Milan.
Inter Milan’s Nicolò Barella got the first yellow card of the game in the 59th minute after he brought down Phil Foden at the edge of the eighteen-yard box.
After a series of attempts, Manchester City finally broke the deadlock in the 68th minute when Rodri pounced on the loose ball and curled his effort past two men on the line into the back of the net.
About two minutes after, Inter Milan had a chance to equalize but the goalpost came to the rescue of the Premier League winners.
Afterward, there were a series of chances from both ends of the field but none was enough to cancel out Rodri’s beautiful strike.
At the end of 90 minutes + five minutes of added time, Pep Guardiola ended up winning his first Champions League title for Manchester City and the third in his legendary managerial career.
