2023-06-12 02:29:31
Manchester City won the first Champions League in their history on Saturday evening, but for them too the wait must have seemed like an eternity. Since his two victories in 2009 and 2011 with Barcelona, Guardiola had not succeeded, neither with Bayern nor with City, to tame the cup with the big ears. It’s been done since Saturday night and the victory of the Skyblues against Inter Milan in Istanbul.
Not the most exciting of his successes, certainly, but at the end of an extraordinary season, Guardiola and his City offer themselves a hat-trick (Championship, National Cup, Champions League) that only Manchester … United had achieved there is over 20 years, in 1999.
“Winning the treble with this group of players and this staff is so special, I swear to you, launched his winger Jack Grealish on the BT Sport channel just after the victory. Guardiola is just a genius. I went to see him to say “thank you, you made all this possible for me, you showed me so much confidence after buying me so much”. Even last year, when I was playing really badly, he stayed by my side, talking to me and this year he gave me this space to perform, so I wanted to thank him”.
After several cruel failures, including the one in the final against Chelsea in 2021, the man who is still considered the best coach in the world has finally finished the job with City at the end of what will undoubtedly remain the least successful match of his European season. . “Winning this competition and achieving the treble is so difficult that the way today did not count, what was needed was to win it, he confessed in a press conference. I’m tired, calm and satisfied of course, this damn trophy is so hard to win! It couldn’t be otherwise, we knew that. In the first half, we were nervous. You just had to be patient. This competition can turn one way or the other, but we were there and it was written that this season was ours. »
Mind-boggling power against Leipzig in the round of 16, Bayern in the quarter-finals and Real Madrid in the semi-finals, City stumbled on Inter Milan for a long time before Rodri found the open midway through the second half.
“We managed to win in Europe; in pain, but that’s normal, he continued. Sometimes you need that chance that we haven’t had in the past”. The 52-year-old coach thanked the Emirati owners for keeping him going, despite repeated failures on the European stage. “Usually after failing to win the Champions League the coach is fired. How many clubs destroy their project like this…”, declared the Catalan, applauded by journalists on his arrival in the press room.
Before concluding on a valve, which may not really be one. “Attention, Real Madrid, we are thirteen Champions Leagues behind you but we are coming to get you”. The beginning of a Guardiola dynasty at Manchester City?
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