Manchester City beats Inter Milan to win the Champions League

Europe belongs to Manchester City Football Club. This Saturday (10), Citizens (as the English team is known) defeated Inter Milan, Italy, by 1-0 at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium, in Istanbul, to win the UEFA Champions League (Union of European Federations). Football), also known as the Champions League, for the first time.

Conquering the biggest club tournament on the planet has been an obsession at City since the purchase by the Abu Dhabi United Group, in 2008. The conglomerate, of Arab origin, invested heavily to transform the team, then not very significant, into a world power. Since then, the Citizens have won the Premier League seven times and even lifted the FA Cup (three) and English League (six) cups.

In the Champions, however, the Manchester team was hitting the post. Regularly participating in the competition since the 2011/12 season, City have come close to the cup previously in 2021 when they reached the final for the first time. In a 100% English decision, Chelsea won, at Estádio do Dragão, in Porto (Portugal).

Also chasing a Champions League title was Pep Guardiola. Ahead of City since 2016, the coach has not won the Champions League since 2011, when he was at Barcelona, ​​a Spanish club for which he had already won the 2009 edition. The coach, who also played for Bayern Munich (Germany), reached the 35th trophy in 14 years of career.

The only Brazilian present in the decision, Ederson became the 56th player from the country to win the Champions League. The City goalkeeper, who was one of the highlights of the final, with two close-range saves, joined a list headed by full-back Marcelo and midfielder Casemiro. Both, with five titles each, are the most victorious Brazilians. It was inaugurated in 1959 with the former winger Canário, champion for the Spanish Real Madrid.

City’s title crowns an undefeated campaign of eight wins and five draws, with 32 goals scored and five conceded. Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, from Citizens, ended the Champions League as top scorer, with 12 goals.

The game

Despite the initial favouritism, City failed to turn it into superiority in the first half. The clearest opportunity was a cross hit by Haaland, in the area, in the 26th minute, which goalkeeper André Onana managed to flatten. Three minutes later, Kevin de Bruyne, one of the main names of the English team, felt his right thigh and had to give way to fellow midfielder Phil Foden. With that, the drama of the 2021 final was repeated, when the Belgian suffered a fracture in his face and was substituted.

In the final stage, the first big chance was for Inter, with Lautaro Martínez. In the 13th minute, the attacker took advantage of a positioning error by defender Manuel Akanji, after midfielder Bernardo Silva retreated, and was in Ederson’s face, but ended up kicking on top of the Brazilian, to the dismay of his teammates.

The punishment came nine minutes later. Akanji made a great pass to Bernardo Silva, behind the defense, on the right. Inside the area, the Portuguese crossed backwards. The ball deflected off Inter’s defense and left with Rodri, amid complaints from City’s own players, asking for a penalty. The midfielder, at first, hit the corner of Onana, opening the scoring in Istanbul.

The Italians had two great opportunities to level the score. In the 28th minute, shortly after Rodri’s goal, defender Federico Dimarco tried twice with a header inside the area. First, he stopped at the crossbar. Afterwards, the ball deflected off the legs of teammate Romelu Lukaku. The same Lukaku missed an unbelievable chance in the small area, in the 43rd minute. The Belgian striker finished with a header on Ederson’s knee. In the scare, defender Ruben Dias removed the danger from the bottom line.

Inter launched the attack in the final moments. In the last game of added time, lateral Robin Gosens headed into the area and Ederson punched away. After the corner kick, the final whistle sounded at the Olímpico Atatürk, to the delight of the City fans. It was up to Ilkay Gundogan, a German who also has Turkish nationality, to lift the cup in Istanbul.