‘Paisa ho toh kya kuch nahi ho sakta’ – Fans abuzz as Manchester City win Champions League for first time in history

On a nerve-wracking Saturday night, Manchester City capped a remarkable season by defeating Inter Milan 1-0 to win the Champions League for the first time and complete the treble. Ataturk Stadium’s cagey match between a far-from-fluent City and the three-time champion Italian team was settled by Spanish midfielder Rodri’s goal in the 68th minute.

Romelu Lukaku, Inter’s substitute, nearly tied the game with a point-blank header that Ederson turned away. However, City, who fell to Chelsea in the championship game two years ago, would not be dissuaded. “Emotional. A dream come true. All these guys around here waited I don’t know how many years. They deserve, we deserve,” Rodri said.

Manchester City became the second Premier League side to win the treble

By winning the Champions League, they equaled Manchester United’s 1999 treble of winning the Premier League, FA Cup, and Champions League. Pep Guardiola, the manager of City, has now won the Champions League three times, bringing his total number of trophies with City to 12. However, against a tenacious Inter team that appeared capable of shocking the score, City’s play was far from fluid.

The first half saw City stifled, and their fans’ frazzled nerves at times brought them to near quiet. When Kevin de Bruyne was injured, City struggled to make plays and were shaky defensively, but in the end, Rodri saved them. The Spaniard stroked home Bernardo Silva’s cutback because Inter, for once, was unable to seal off the openings. Even so, City had to play it out to the very end of a long season after Lautaro Martinez struck the crossbar for Inter and Romelu Lukaku was stopped by an outstanding Ederson save.

Guardiola, who won the Spanish equivalent with Barcelona in 2009, became the first manager to win two trebles in European football by finally leading Manchester City to the coveted European championship after a few heartbreaking close calls since Sheikh Mansour acquired the team in 2008. More than 100 suspected Premier League financial laws violations dating back to 2009 still require City to explain themselves, but that is a topic for another day.

Here’s how fans reacted:

https://twitter.com/oluwatunmilara1/status/1667643773516496898

https://twitter.com/Brooklyn_0828/status/1667644548808335361

https://twitter.com/ey_15_/status/1667643561452400640

https://twitter.com/BhattiQaisra/status/1667645204503969792

pic.twitter.com/Pj3NIDLwIp

— Afif Pangestu (@AfifPangestu_) June 10, 2023

A club with no fans won the champions league

— QAISRA (@BhattiQaisra) June 10, 2023

https://twitter.com/NannieTerr74716/status/1667733999798583299

This is the new standard. We go again. #COYG

— Roma (@MatongNathan) June 10, 2023