The best in the tournament won, not the best in the final. “It’s football”, “it’s football”, says the Irishman in his non-explanation that explains everything. This is exciting, strange, illogical and surprising football. Manchester City has crowned fifteen years of patient pursuit since its virtual re-foundation in 2008: it has won the treble, but above all the precious third jewel of the brightest necklace that can be worn: the Champions League, which has added the Premier League and the FA Cup makes the most lavish showcase that can display any club in the cradle of baseball. He managed to do that only against Manchester United, his eternal rival, and that in 1999. Although this is not new for Pep Guardiola: in 2009, he connected the sextet with Barcelona.

The undefeated champion with 8 wins and 5 draws, 33 goals for and only 5 against, the numbers smile at him and declare him a great monarch. The cup that narrowly eluded him in 2021 in the hands of Chelsea has now drunk. Without stars, with good or very good translators, without spending hundreds of millions more than rivals, these are the two labels that the Madrid press invented for Guardiola to try to discredit him. But Pep is the best in history. He happens to be Catalan, that’s boring in the capital. He is number one and proves it again. His team plays, has a defined style, a degenerate performance difficult for opponents, which under the sky of Turkey did not shine as usual, but knew how to score a goal and win. It is Guardiola’s 35th title. And he can go on adding, he is young, he loves what he does, he is not satisfied with success and he has, among many, the virtue of re-motivating his troops after victory and victory. The hardest thing to maintain any winning streak is maintaining the hunger for triumph, the eye of the tiger. He does it with his players and with himself. It is insatiable. His detractors, who have millions, are asking him to do the same with Elche or Numancia, heh… they are so sweet.

For festivals like the City usually offers, it was a gray, unforgettable triumph, without a gala dress. Unite to zero barely. The mental fatigue of their players was noticed, in 21 days they played practically three finals: against Chelsea to win the local championship, against United to win the English Cup and now against Inter. A football player physically recovers from week to week, mind you. Rekindling the desire to win is like asking an exhausted, poorly fed and poorly slept soldier to pick up his rifle and return to the charge. And it was City’s 60th game this season. Such an effort led to a 21-day funnel to define the three crowns.

In Inter, his loser sold his skin dearly, left his whole soul and earned the sympathy of the world. It was a very brave Inter, a bear that almost gave the hunter an account. If we analyze the goal situations, he had four very clean sheets against two for City in the 98 minutes that the game lasted. And 14 shots for the Italian team compared to 7 for the English team. He was a millimeter away from the feat, but he couldn’t do it.

Inter surprised him at City in the first act, nothing extraordinary, with high pressing, where City’s cross began. He interrupted the articulation of the game. Without any revolutionary tactics, just a lot of concentration, toughness, anticipation, always on top of the pitcher and the catcher. It comes from the year ’30; before they called it “squeezing stamps”. Added to this was the team’s striking inaccuracy in passing Citizen. In this context, Grad was like someone who gets into a car in a hurry, turns the key to start it, and the engine starts brrrrmmmm, brrrrmmmm, but it doesn’t start. Unable to start game. His game, that mix of precise passes that gives him territorial and psychological control over the opponent until he finds a hole. City is unknown, not even close to the dominant team that won the Premier League, the Cup and defeated Bayern and Madrid. De Bruyne’s injury at the age of 35 was a blow for the Sky Blues. The Belgian has been his franchise player for years, plays and plays, creates danger, converts. It was good for Inter.

On that stage, there were notable performances by the Nerazzurri, such as Dimarco, Barella, Bastoni and Acerbi. Others, attentive, all involved. But Inter did not finish the goal in those first 47 minutes. And the Mancunian eleven had nothing left, only a left foot from Haaland with a certain spice that Onana stopped without difficulty. That didn’t change the course of events, but the match began to break down. When the clock ticked 58′, Akanji fell asleep on a long ball and Lautaro Martínez stole his wallet, I went and scored a goal, albeit in a very angled position, and Ederson kept it, becoming the decisive figure. And at the age of 68, Rodrija scored a goal that entered the history books. A good opening by Akanji to Bernardo Silva on the right, the center back and the Madrid player knocked it into the net with mastery and surgical precision. Rodri is by far the best midfielder in the world today, this great goal dedicates him.

City, Guardiola, the club project, everyone found peace there. And Inter had no choice but to come out of the trenches and attack with a clear bayonet. And he went up there with enthusiasm, with greatness, convinced that he could. And cornered the City. He was denied a goal twice in such an incredible way that it is difficult to understand how the ball did not go in. For the last quarter of an hour, there was tension of ten thousand volts, worthy of the definition of a champion. And in Ederson’s last cover, Inter’s chance died. It’s unfortunate, because he did a lot and deserved at least an extension.

UEFA awarded the final to Polish referee Szimon Marciniak, as well as the match between Argentina and France in Qatar. This means that FIFA saw him as outstanding at the World Cup. And again it was flawless, with no questionable flaws. To their credit, the protagonists behaved well.

Istanbul, formerly Constantinople, formerly Byzantium, offered its ancient charm to tens of thousands of English and Italians. spill your story. He showed his most modern face by receiving them, and the Champions League. Both satisfied and fulfilled. She was an efficient housewife, she threw a cloak of oblivion over the serious incidents in Paris last year, which almost became a tragedy. Good.

The city is the goldsmith’s task of the Emirati owner. On September 1, 2008, they landed in an entity that had 11 relegations (they even went to the Third League, which did not happen to any big European club). They made a long-term plan. They bought the club for $250 million and injected £1,000 million into infrastructure, players and coaches. Today it is worth HRK 7,000 million. In the meantime, they have won 20 trophies, including 7 Premier Leagues, 3 FA Cups, 6 League Cups, 3 Community Shields and now this Champions League. They also won several runner-ups. Always in search of excellence. They have expanded and own eleven more clubs under the City name on four continents. Now they sell more players than they buy. Signing cracks is only a small aspect of the City’s organization.

“This is a triumph for the club that has been going step by step for years to get to this point. And it’s my turn to score the winning goal. I never imagined it. I remember Fernandinho, Agüero, Kompany… so many players who contributed to achieve this,” said Rodrigo Hernández Cascante, the one who sent the right-hander to glory. (D)