Champions League: Man City vs. Inter – current final information in the live blog

It’s the biggest game in European club football: The final of the Champions League between Manchester City and Inter Milan is taking place in Istanbul – current information and background information in the live blog.

Former Bayern captain Philipp Lahm firmly believes that his ex-coach Pep Guardiola and international Ilkay Gündogan will crown their time together at Manchester City by winning the Champions League. “The pressure is certainly there, but Manchester City are the clear favourites“said Lahm of the German Press Agency. “They’ve already got the double in England and I’m pretty sure they’ll turn that into a treble.“

One of the keys to success: Gündogan is one of the key players under Guardiola. “I think Pep Guardiola has a big role to play in Ilkay’s career. As a coach, Pep makes his players better all the time“, so Lahm. “Ilkay benefits from playing in a clear system at Manchester City, with a clear role and a clear mission. That’s typical of Pep Guardiola and his way of leading a world-class team.“

Depending on the category, the ticket prices for the game are 70, 180, 490 or 690 euros. The Atatürk Olympic Stadium is one of the largest in Europe, there are a total of 72,000 tickets for the game, but they are scarce. UEFA distributed almost 25,000 of these to sponsors and VIPs. 40,000 are shared between Manchester City and Inter Milan fans, only 7,200 went on sale at all.

So tickets are hard to come by, very expensive even at the original price and, if you’re lucky, you can probably only get them on the black market. Coins are not allowed in the stadium – the stadium regulations consider them possible projectiles.

Inter Milan are considered underdogs against Manchester City. it need “Fitness, mentality and heart”, said coach Simone Inzaghi. The greater pressure is on the clearly favored opponent, but “we are not relaxed at all, but very concentrated”.

Everyone on the team knows “that we have a huge chance to make Inter history”. So far, the “Nerazzurri” have won the most important club competition in Europe three times, most recently 13 years ago in the final against FC Bayern Munich.

For Pep Guardiola, in his own words, the question of favorites does not matter. “It doesn’t matter if we’re the favorites or not. What matters is that we put in the absolute best performance tomorrow”said the Manchester City manager. “We are ready”said Guardiola: “It’s absolutely a dream, and it takes the right amount of obsession and desire.”

City’s player Ruben Dias stressed that nobody would underestimate Inter. “To forget it’s a final would be the biggest mistake we could make.”

The final of the Champions League is finally taking place in Istanbul in the third attempt. The game comes at a time full of crises and challenges for Turkey: The country is politically torn, experienced a major earthquake disaster and now people are suffering from high inflation, which is making life increasingly difficult to afford. Football offers just a little distraction.

One of the most important players at Manchester is German international İlkay Gündoğan. At his club, probably the best in the world, Gündoğan collects titles and recognition. With the national team he is more of a follower, his reputation in Germany suffers as a result.

Since Abu Dhabi’s arrival in 2008, Manchester City have assembled one of the best football teams in history. The question remains whether this was done properly. The club has been accused of violating financial regulations several times – they are currently investigating Premier League because of 115 possible violations – which City denies.

First champions, then cup winners, now in the Champions League final – Inter Milan is experiencing sportingly successful times. But they hide the true state of the club. The club is doing poorly financially, and UEFA has imposed austerity measures on it. And soon a large loan will have to be repaid.

Manchester City defeated Borussia Dortmund, FC Sevilla and FC Copenhagen in the group stage. The team defeated RB Leipzig in the round of 16, Bayern Munich was the opponent in the quarter-finals and Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

Inter finished behind Bayern in the group stage but ahead of FC Barcelona and Viktoria Pilsen in second place. The team defeated FC Porto in the round of 16, defeated SSC Napoli in the quarter-finals and prevailed over AC Milan in the semi-finals.

Brazilian singer, songwriter, actress and dancer Anitta will perform at the opening ceremony alongside Nigerian Afrobeat musician Burna Boy.

Szymon Marciniak attended an event hosted by far-right politician Slawomir Mentzen from the Konfederacja party as a guest speaker. Marciniak apologized, stating that he did not know the exact circumstances and was “misled”. UEFA decided against a replacement.

Is Manchester City the first state-owned club to win the Champions League? It would be for the “Our Curve” fan interest group “a victory dishonestly bought through financial doping”as representative Dario Minden of the German Press Agency said on Wednesday (06/06/2023): “Man City is symbolic of the sell-out of football and the sport’s inability to protect its socio-cultural value.”

Martin Endemann from “Football Supporters Europe” would of a “turning point” speak, should one of the clubs win the premier class title, “which are de facto owned by states with dubious human rights records”.