The night of regrets and triumph. On the two sides of the scales in the Champions League final in Istanbul, Inter and the hugely favored City are in equilibrium: what breaks it to give the English club its first cup are Rodri’s goal and Nerazzurri errors on the sills, which are worth a defeat really bitter. The coveted ‘Treble’ arrives for Guardiola, Manchester City wins the first Champions League in its history and the Catalan coach goes to heaven. Italian football has also achieved its hat-trick: three defeats in as many European finals this season. After Rome and Fiorentina, it’s up to Inter, narrowly beaten, 1-0 as often happens in the matches that assign the continental title. However, this time the regret is even more intense, because the distances between a stellar City and the Nerazzurri were really very small.
“We lost a final that we wanted to win. I complimented my players, they were great. But that hurts.” These are the first words of Simone Inzaghi, Inter coach, after the Champions final lost against City. “I still wonder how the ball didn’t enter, on Lukaku’s final header: I would have liked to play for extra time,” he added to Sky. “We had a positive season, and now it hurts. We played in a final and we want to go back, but playing like in the last three months”
“I’m happy, even if I need time to score. Anything could have happened, Lukaku could have scored and we’d go into extra time, we could have doubled through Foden and it was over: a game like this is like heads or tails… the Treble is splendid”. These are the first words of Pep Guardiola, who this year won the league, the English cup and the Champions League with City. “I knew it wouldn’t be easy with Inter, Italian football has grown a lot – he told Sky – it had three finalists. Look at Napoli, look at this Inter, how Conte plays: it’s no longer defense and counterattack. And that’s why victory is worth even more..”
Inter didn’t just contain their opponents, they had the chance to win. On this occasion, a curious statistic is also confirmed according to which the goal that awards the Big Ears Cup comes between the 40th and 65th minute. So it was this time too, with Rodri who pounced on a ball that arrived to him from Bernardo Silva, who had gone away on the right and had been good at serving the assist (with an unfortunate deflection from Acerbi) which served to his partner for beat Onana. Thus Pep Guardiola can break the taboo of the Champions League that had eluded him so far away from Barcelona, and celebrate the umpteenth triumph of his career as a coach, the one n.36. But tonight in Istanbul he was not the poet of football or the inventor of a game that has no equal. Of course, his team was also good at overcoming the handicap of De Bruyne lost to injury after half an hour but the announced show didn’t take place. He counted on winning and that was enough to drive the thirty thousand who arrived from Manchester crazy. However, it was Inter who made the match at the Olimpico Ataturk, especially in the first, who still regret the two chances that didn’t materialize in the second half, with Dimarco’s crossbar in the 26th minute and Lukaku’s header a couple of minutes to go.
On balance, it’s Manchester City’s night, as predicted but certainly not with the expected script. It ends with Inzaghi’s players astonished on the sidelines, City’s players embracing each other under the eyes of Ceferin and Erdogan and the English fans singing ‘Blue Moon’. The Inter fans, at the Ataturk stadium and in Piazza Duomo, weep and applaud their players. In the most bitter night for Inter Milan.
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