Guardiola's Man City pip Inter Milan to secure maiden Champions League crown, complete historic treble

Manchester City overcame Kevin De Bruyne's injury and beat Inter Milan 1-0 to be crowned winners of the UEFA Champions League for the first time. Midfielder De Bruyne had to be substituted in the 36th minute by what seemed like a hamstring injury, and walked off the field looking devastated. But the setback soon turned into jubilation an hour later when Rodri broke the deadlock in the second half which was enough to guarantee the title to City and Pep Guardiola.

In a game where City looked far from fluent, Rodri's 68th minute goal was the game-changer when he cashed it on a right-sided cross from Bernardo Silva. With half the team trying to block it, an alert Rodri got to it and placed it precisely into the nets. In the dying stages of the match – 88th to be exact – Inter almost pulled it back when a point-blank header from substitute Romelo Lukaku was saved by Ederson. "Emotional. A dream come true. All these guys around here waited I don't know how many years. They deserve, we deserve," Rodri said.

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And once City held on to the lead for the remaining two minutes of regulation time and five additional minutes, Guardiola's men became the only English club since Manchester United since 1999, and the 10th team overall to complete a treble, having won the English Premier League and the FA Cup earlier. With this, Guardiola's trophy count has risen to 12 since taking over as the club manager in 2016.

Having dominated defending champions Real Madrid in the UCL semifinals, City headed into the summit clash as overwhelming favourites. Having tasted defeat just once in the last four months, a red-hot City was expected to pretty much steamroll Inter. However, the version that entered Istanbul's Ataturk Olympic Stadium was a scrappy bunch, until Rodri's timely goal settles the nerves.

Federico Dimarco was the first threat from Inter who almost equalised. His header crashed into the crossbar before the follow up was blocked by his teammate Lukaku. Inter pretty much had City's number in the first-half, frustrating them with their flow and rhythm, and once Du Bruyne's was replaced by Phil Foden, their woes grew further. This is the second time that the City playmaker has been unable to complete a UCL final - in 2021 he suffered a concussion and had to come off in tears after a pretty bad collision with Antonio Ruediger.

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