Manchester City beat Inter Milan 1-0 and won the Champions League

(CNN Spanish) – Manchester City beat Inter Milan 1-0 this Saturday at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul and finally lifted the Champions League trophy, an “orejona” elusive until now.

The team led by Pep Guardiola thus obtains the 32nd title in its history, and capitalizes on a dream season by achieving a “cloverleaf” after winning the Premier League and recently the FA Cup, beating historic rivals Manchester United 2-1.

This is Guardiola’s second hat-trick, which he helped score with FC Barcelona in 2008-09.

Rodri celebrates the winning goal. Credit: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

Istanbul’s hero was Rodri Hernández, who kicked a free-floating ball into the penalty area and pumped up the net in the 68th minute.

The final, however, started fairly evenly with the very well positioned Italian side blocking any taste of that overwhelming Manchester City, who were the favorites by numbers.

Things got complicated for the England side when Kevin De Buyne, one of the architects of Guardiola’s squad, was injured after 36 minutes.

It is not De Bruyne’s first injury in the Champions League final. In the 2021 defeat to Chelsea, De Bruyne suffered a facial injury which forced the 31-year-old to watch the rest of the match from the bench.

After Rodri’s goal, Inter went in search of an equaliser. But Manchester City also won due to Inter’s lack of strength: Federico DiMarco’s header in the 70th minute hit the crossbar and Romelu Lukaku had a header in front of goal, but it was blocked by goalkeeper Ederson , which also earned him a goal in the first half duel with Lautaro Martinez.

Lukaku missed a clear scoring chance late in the match. Credit: David Ramos/Getty Images

In short, it was a match without a team that completely dominated the rival. The agony of a possible draw continued until the final whistle, and Inter did a good job of shutting out City greats.

“I’m excited,” Rodri told BT Sport after the match. “This is a dream come true. All these kids here, waiting I don’t know how many years, 20, 30, 40 years… I’ve only been here four years, but they deserve it; I deserve it. In years past, we were so close. … This is a dream come true for all of us.”

Ilkay Gundogan holds the “orejona”, the Champions League trophy. Credit: PAUL ELLIS/AFP via Getty Images

Manchester City captain Ilkay Gundogan said he was “proud” of everyone’s hard work to win a “beautiful” competition.

“And winning the treble is something incredible,” Gundogan said. “It’s the biggest achievement for any club team and we did it. It reflects the quality we have in our team, but it also shows how dedicated we are. I want to thank the Manchester City fans for their support this season. I can honestly say we couldn’t have done it without them. They were incredible and deserve this moment.”

In this Champions League, Manchester City won group G with 14 units. In the round of 16 they eliminated RB Leipzig from Germany with an aggregate result of 8-1. In the quarterfinals, they eliminated Bayern Munich with a score of 4-1. In the semifinals, they eliminated Real Madrid with an aggregate score of 5-1.

Erling Haaland embraces Pep Guardiola. Credit: FRANCK FIFE/AFP via Getty Images

The club will organize a parade with the three shamrock trophies through the streets of Manchester on Monday.

The next Champions League final will be played in London.

Hugo Manu Correa contributed to this report.

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