Rodri da al Manchester City su primera Champions

Guardiola's men handcuff Inter (1-0) and raise the long-awaited 'Orejona' to the sky of Istanbul

Manchester City won the first Champions League in its history this Saturday thanks to an agonizing victory (1-0) over Inter Milan, fastened with a single goal from Spanish midfielder Rodri Hernández midway through the second half of the final, played in the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul (Turkey).

That Rodri target culminated the fairy tale of the 'citizens' in this long 2022/23 season, with the World Cup in between. Raising the long-awaited 'Orejona' to the Turkish sky and completing a vintage treble, the Catalan coach Pep Guardiola gave his club glory after having won the Premier League and also the FA Cup in previous weeks.

The first occasion at the Atatürk was on the left boot of Bernardo Silva, who sent a shot from the right side inside the area, looking for the opposite squad. Despite the scare and the dominance exercised by Manchester City, the 'Nerazzurri' team was not intimidated and stretched their lines to prowl around Ederson Moraes' goal.

The result of this was a first approach from Lautaro Martínez that culminated in a shot by Marcelo Brozovic well above the 'citizen' crossbar. Shortly after, Ederson missed a footed delivery and Nicolò Barella attempted a long shot, with the Brazilian keeper out of position.

Those timid actions served as a prelude to Erling Haaland's first blow, although without achieving the spoils of the goal. The 27th minute was running when the Belgian midfielder Kevin De Bruyne filtered a pass to the Norwegian striker's career, who executed an immaculate left-footed shot while an Inter defender was on top of him.

André Onana, well positioned in his goal, repelled the ball with his body. De Bruyne himself gave the Cameroonian more work with a shot from the edge, at medium height but without enough force to bother him. However, that move was expensive for Manchester City, since De Bruyne noticed muscular discomfort in his right thigh.

Although the talented Belgian midfielder tried to carry on, with a couple of passes after being attended to by the physio, Guardiola was forced to replace him with Phil Foden. The second time that De Bruyne has been injured in his two Champions League finals, since in 2021 he fractured bones in his face due to a clash with Antonio Rüdiger.

Foden's entry into the field slowed down the pace of the first half, which only experienced one more chance until the break. At the mercy of a disjointed attack, the Swiss center-back Manuel Akanji hooked a left-footed shot from the top of the box that went high. Little to eat on the part of both teams, in a stadium that is still expectant.

A shot from Hakan Çalhanoglu, too focused, was Inter's first warning when they returned from the locker room. But the two teams continued to grip, aware that a setback could be a heavy stone, and the minutes passed between nerves. In this context, a mistake by Akanji when measuring a pass from Silva tensed the game.

Attentive to that mistake, Lautaro did run towards the ball, already inside the area and listed on the left wing. Ederson came out at his feet, reduced spaces and the Argentine forward defined with a shot without much angle; the Brazilian goalkeeper, almost on top of the '10' from Inter, managed to make the ball bounce off his chest and disrupt the action.

FALLOS DE AKANJI, GOL DE RODRI Y PARADAS DE EDERSON

The answer was a header from Rúben Dias after a set piece from a set piece, to the center of Ilkay Gündogan. Despite the fact that the Portuguese defender's header did not pose a threat, it did shake the match. It was then that Rodri Hernández opened the scoring, at 68', with a forehand at mid-height that drew a beautiful route.

From the right flank, Akanji raised the ball and fed it low to Silva, who hurried down the baseline to cross back; there emerged the figure of Rodri, capital in every Guardiola scheme, making his shot with the right donut to avoid Matteo Darmian and Çalhanoglu in his path.

Inter did not take the blow badly and came close to equalizing thanks to Federico Dimarco. After a racket, Denzel Dumfries also extended head forward. Akanji 'ate' the boat and Dimarco finished off with his head, but the ball crashed into the crossbar after overtaking Ederson; he returned to head the rebound, though he bounced off a teammate.

That teammate was the Belgian striker Romelu Lukaku, who minutes earlier had replaced a fangless Edin Dzeko. The duel has already entered a new march, more accelerated and with Manchester City close to the second goal. Foden wasted a great opportunity in the 78th minute, with a free corridor until he stood in front of Onana.

Haaland had created that gap involuntarily, as a result of a struggle. But the Cameroonian goalkeeper cleared Foden's shot well, which had been to the body instead of crossed. Simone Inzaghi's pupils rushed the final minutes in search of a goal that would send everything to extra time, and they almost found it in a header from Lukaku.

Another refreshment man, the German Robin Gosens, beat the short Silva to the side and his extension at 89' earned Lukaku an assist. Behind Akanji, the burly Belgian striker headed almost unexpectedly and Ederson parried the ball with his left knee. Miraculously, Rúben Dias did not score an own goal on the rebound.

With added time up, referee Szymon Marciniak allowed Inter to take out one last corner. Onana went up to 'scratch' whatever, in a tidal wave of footballers where Gosens headed from the first post and put Ederson in serious trouble. However, the Brazilian goalkeeper cleared that ball and also the 'Nerazzurri' dreams.

DATASHEET.

--RESULT: MANCHESTER CITY, 1 - INTER MILAN, 0. (0-0, at halftime).

--LINE-UPS.

MANCHESTER CITY: Ederson; Akanji, Rúben Dias, Aké; Stones (Walker, min. 82), Rodri; Silva, De Bruyne (Foden, min.36), Gündogan, Grealish; y Haaland.

INTER MILAN: Onana; Darmian (D'Ambrosio, min.84), Acerbi, Bastoni (Gosens, min.76); Dumfries (Bellanova, min.76), Barella, Brozovic, Çalhanoglu (Mkhitaryan, min.84), Dimarco; Dzeko (Lukaku, min.57) and Lautaro.

--GOAL:

1-0, min.68: Rodri.

--REFEREE: Szymon Marciniak (POL). He yellow carded Haaland (90 2) and Ederson (min.90 4) at Manchester City, and also Barella (min.59), Lukaku (min.83), Onana (min.90 2) and Inzaghi ( min.90 6) at Inter Milan.

--STADIUM: Atatürk Olympic Stadium (Istanbul, Türkiye), 71,412 spectators.