The game itself might have been painful to watch, but City fans are over their blue moon with the result. Man City have at long last won the Champions League as they beat Inter Milan 1-0 in a scrappy, ugly football match that also saw them complete the English treble.
If you weren’t a Man City fan (and especially if you’re an Inter Milan fan), that game was torture to watch.
Manchester City have finally gotten the Champions League monkey off their backs as they overcame a dogged, determined Inter Milan side 1-0 to complete their English treble victory, tying the great 1999 Man United side for the greatest achievement in English football history. And, even though the game was HORRIBLE to watch, Man City deserved this victory.
This game was the quintessential proof that no matter how experienced, ready, determined, talented, skilled, or prepared one may be for a Champions League final, the pressure and tension of the final will waver even the most composed players in the world. And that was most evident with how bad Man City and Inter Milan looked.
Don’t get me wrong, these two teams still played to an extremely high level of football that only few professional teams, let alone amateur ones, can ever even dream of aspiring to, yet the nerves of the finals clearly effected these players in their passing, finishing, and basic structures.
The Inter Milan wingers simply couldn’t cross a ball into the box for one of their strikers even if their lives depended on it yesterday as so many balls either hit the first man or went flying out for a throw in, while the Inter defense looked as though they were on the precipice of collapsing every time City rushed on their net.
Reversely, City could barely string together a few passes in the middle of the park without either an Inter Milan midfielder breaking up the passage or their shape would get malformed into this weird, uneven, and extremely un-City and un-Pep like midfield…that would end up losing the ball anyways.
And, when Inter Milan were able to actually get the ball in City’s box, which happened far more often than one would have expected, City’s defense looked extremely frantic and panicky right before clearing the ball at the last second.
So, when you see that Inter Milan actually had more shots (14 vs 7), more shots on target (6 vs. 4), more corners (4 vs. 2), and honestly the better chances than City, it should make it a little easier to understand how the finals nerves effected both teams.
Still, I have to credit Inter Milan’s team spirit for lasting as long as they did against a far superior opponent in Man City as their midfield trio of Marcelo Brozović, Nicoloo Barella, and Hakan Çalhanoğlu kept City’s renowned trio of Ilkay Gundogan, Rodri, and KDB (and then Phil Foden when De Breyne went off injured) quiet for 90% of this match, while their back-5 of Denzel Dumfries, Alessandro Bastoni, Federico Dimarco, Matteo Darmian, and Francesco Acerbi only allowed a Rodri super strike past them.
Yes, as I said, the defense looked really frantic and panicky given the nerves of the finals and the fact that Erling Haaland was driving towards them, but they didn’t fold over like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, or RB Leipzig’s defenses did in the face of Erling Haaland and City’s offense. They held their ground and never broken under even the most torturous of City attacks late on in the game.
If they didn’t have a bumbling buffoon at striker for the final 40 or so minutes of the game, then they actually would have won given their chances.
I’m sorry if I sound cruel or harsh, but Romelu Lukaku should never wear an Inter Milan jersey again after the performance he had yesterday. He not only was wasteful and useless up front, but he singlehandedly cost Inter Milan the Champions League title with two of the most horrendous, Lloris Karius-like moments in Champions League history.
First, Lukaku clumsily blocked DiMarco’s, his own teammate, header off the goal line to prevent Inter drawing level just six minutes after City scored the first and only goal of the game, and then he missed A WIDE-OPEN GOAL by heading the ball RIGHT AT A STATIONED, UNAWARE EDERSON with just three minutes left in the game!
I can kind of see why some people would come to Lukaku’s defense on the first miss (I guess), but the second miss is unforgivable for a forward that has wasted everyone’s time with lackluster performances this entire season.
Given how Lukaku always has this dumbstruck, blame-everyone else look on his face every time he misses a chance, I would personally pay for his flight back to London (he’s on loan from Chelsea) if I was an Inter fan. That’s how bad he played yesterday.
However, I can’t just criticize Lukaku for Inter’s woes as Man City did what champions do: they took the game by the scruff of the neck when the spotlight shown brightest.
After nearly 70 minutes of stop-start, shaky play that saw Inter Milan look like the more dangerous team, City’s advanced tiki-taka/high-press style of football finally started working the Internazionale defense and penetrated the box with regularity.
Then, through a rather innocuous through ball by Manuel Akanji to Bernado Silva, the little Portuguese maestro took out 3-4 Inter defenders with a cutback cross (which was deflected for what it’s worth) that found Rodri at the edge of the box.
And, as one would expect, Rodri guided home an unstoppable strike into the left corner of Andre Onana’s net that saw Man City take a 1-0 lead and win the Champions League for the first time in the club’s 143-year history.
Yes, there was a few more “A+” chances after this moment, such as the Lukaku goofs, Phil Foden missing a 1 vs. 1, DiMarco heading the ball off the crossbar, and Ederson making a 95th minute save on the goal line from an Inter cross, but City’s defense steadied itself after a shaky start and held onto the 1-0 victory to win their third title of the season.
And, as I’ve said after both the FA Cup and Premier League title victories, this City side has more than deserved this Champions League win as have simply been the greatest side in both England and the world for the last 5 years.
No team has won as many trophies in their, respective, leagues and in Europe than Manchester City as in the last five years, Man City have won 4 Premier League titles, 2 FA Cup trophies, 3 EFL Cup trophies, 2 Community Shields, the Champions League, have completed four domestic doubles, the only English domestic treble in English top-flight football history, and now the second-ever continental treble in English top-flight football history.
And, more importantly in my eyes, Man City actually went through a very difficult Champions League run to reach this milestone victory.
In years past, I had a lot of complaints and criticize for how “lucky” City would get with their Champions League draws against the minnows of European football year after year, but that trend did not happen this season as they had to beat RB Leipzig (3rd in Bundesliga), Borussia Dortmund (2nd in Bundesliga), Sevilla (Europa League winners), Bayern Munich (Bundesliga champions), Real Madrid (2022 Champions League winners), and Inter Milan (completed Italian cup double) to win the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola has shown that he is one of the Top-5 greatest managers of all-time and that this City side will go down in history as one of the greatest to ever grace English football with this victory.
Images Source: Featured Image:
