AFTER 12 years of heartbreaks and cock-ups and rank bad luck in the Champions League, we should have known it was never going to be smooth.
But following what felt like a collective 90-minute anxiety attack in Istanbul tonight, Manchester City are finally the champions of Europe.
The Blue Moon has risen and Old Big Ears belongs to Pep Guardiola and his Abu Dhabi paymasters.
But the final step on any great quest can often feel like the hardest and as City clinched their Treble, they were almost unrecognisable from the side who have swept aside far mightier teams than Inter Milan in this epic campaign.
The goalscorer Rodri personified City’s lack of self-assuredness. For 68 minutes, this great side’s usually-reliable Spanish anchor man had looked like a gibbering wreck.
But when the ball fell to him 15 yards out, the Spaniard struck his shot sweetly, the onion bag bulged and the agony of being so close to glory finally eased.
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Guardiola’s men are footballing immortals now, the equals of Manchester United’s famous boys of 1999.
This season, the great Catalan purist has prevailed over a more flexible side, unafraid to go long to their goal machine Erling Haaland.
The Norwegian has finished off by netting just once in eight games but nobody in sky blue could care less about that after a 52-goal rampage which rocket-fuelled this Treble.
There had been a miracle here in 2005, when Liverpool staged the most dramatic comeback in this fixture’s grand history.
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And Inter’s supporters travelled in their tens of thousands in hope rather than expectation.
Their club may be three-time European champions but City’s nation-state wealth and extreme quality had demoted them to the status of rank outsiders.
Guardiola had been avoiding his trademark Champions League ‘over-thinking’ for thumping victories over the powerhouses of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.
But here he sprang a surprise – preferring Nathan Ake to Kyle Walker, to combat Inter’s front two, Edin Dzeko and Lautaro Martinez, with John Stones back to doing his inverted right-back thing.
It wasn’t the strangest selection Guardiola has made – not by a long chalk – but it was a diversion from a settled team and an indication he wasn’t taking Inter as lightly as many of us were.
There had been gridlocked traffic on the long road out of central Istanbul to the Ataturk but, thankfully, none of last year’s horrific chaos in Paris.
After the Superbowl-style pre-match antics Uefa insist upon, the teams arrived to an ivory-tickler on a grand piano playing the Champions League theme.
This occasion is never knowingly under-blown.
As kick-off approached, the City fans turned their backs for a massed Poznan.
Whatever the concerns about Abu Dhabi’s ownership of the club, plenty of them had been to Macclesfield and back with this club and it was tough to begrudge them this night.
City were briefly into their slick routine, Bernardo Silva bending one narrowly wide across goal.
But Inter were robust in defence, direct in attack and refusing to be dominated.
Guardiola’s men were unusually sloppy at times – a slack Rodri pass allowing Marcelo Brozovic a long-range sighter.
City’s Spanish anchorman looked nervy and he wasn’t the only one, a mix-up between Ederson and Ruben Dias caused a few palpitations.
As the half-hour approached, there were echoes of City’s no-show in the 2021 final against Chelsea in Porto.
Guardiola was repeatedly telling his players to relax. He had stated on the eve of the match that his players must not become anxious if the scoreline stayed goalless for too long. But they were doing just that.
Kevin De Bruyne, though, upped it by feeding Haaland who angled his run menacingly but was off-balance when he unloaded and Andre Onana saved at his near post.
But there was another reminder of 2021 when De Bruyne pulled up with a hamstring injury, carried on briefly, but then signalled to be withdrawn after he botched a cross.
Phil Foden was no mean replacement but City’s chief creative force – who had been substituted after suffering a broken nose against Chelsea – was gone.
Inter were invoking the dark arts, with plenty of ‘injury’ stoppages and Guardiola felt the need to start cheerleading the City faithful.
Stones was City’s best player, enjoying his midfield freedom pass. But few of his team-mates were on their game.
Dzeko was replaced by Romelu Lukaku – a man with a point to prove – on 56 minutes.
Then another moment of panic as Bernardo’s backward pass was simply ignored by Manuel Akanji, allowing Martinez to shoot, Ederson pulling off a sharp save.
Haaland dropped back and duffed a pass. Guardiola was down on his haunches. What on Earth was going on out there?
Every time there was a flash of the true City, an error seemed to follow.
That was until the 68th minute when Akanji strode forward and supplied a line-breaking pass for Bernardo, who cut back for Rodri to drill home from just inside the area.
Inter, though, were almost level within two minutes – Federico Dimarco’s looping header came back off the bar and then his follow-up was blocked by team-mate Lukaku.
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Foden almost had a Gazza moment when he rolled his man and burst through but saw his shot saved by Onana.
But two minutes from time there was an almighty scare as Lukaku’s weak header, from point-blank range, was kept out by Ederson and Dias.
Source: Soccer - thesun.co.uk
