BINH DUONG
In the final at Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Türkiye in the early morning of June 11, Manchester City defeated Inter Milan to win the Champions League for the first time in the club's history. Pep Guardiola also became the first coach to win the "treble" with two different teams.
Coach Guardiola and his team lifted the Champions League trophy. Photo: Twitter
Winning the Champions League has been the main goal of the United Arab Emirates (UAE) owners since taking over Man City in 2008. To achieve this goal, they invited coach Pep Guardiola in 2016 and have since invested more than £1 billion in the transfer market to recruit top players to build a strong force like today.
Among them, midfielder Rodri was recruited for 63 million pounds and he scored the only goal in the final, helping the club's owners achieve their dream in Europe's most prestigious club tournament. Club President Sheikh Mansour was also present in the stands at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, marking the first time in nearly 13 years that he attended a match of his beloved team. Billionaire Mansour missed the 2020-2021 Champions League final where Man City lost 0-1 to Chelsea. This time, when Man City had a better chance of winning the championship, he attended.
Man City were unbeaten on their way to winning the Champions League. In the group stage, they defeated Sevilla 4-0, 3-1, beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1, drew 0-0, crushed Copenhagen 5-0, drew 0-0. Then, Guardiola's team drew RB Leipzig 1-1, destroyed them 7-0 in the round of 16, beat Bayern Munich 3-0, drew 1-1 in the quarter-finals, drew 1-1 with Real Madrid, won 4-0 in the semi-finals.
Thus, Man City have completed the "treble" this season, including the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League. They also became the first English team to win these three titles in the same season since their neighbors Manchester United achieved this feat in 1999.
Man City are the sixth English team to win the European Cup/Champions League, after Aston Villa, Chelsea, Liverpool, Man United and Nottingham Forest. England has more clubs than any other country to have won the competition, twice as many as the next three countries, Italy, Germany and the Netherlands (all three clubs).
Meanwhile, Guardiola became the first coach to win the "treble" with two different clubs, with Man City this season and Barcelona in 2008-2009 (winning La Liga, Spanish King's Cup and Champions League). Immediately after the historic "treble", he warned Real Madrid. "Real Madrid, be careful, we are 13 times away from winning the Champions League. If you rest on your laurels for even a moment, we will catch up," the Spanish coach said in a press conference after the final. On the way to the Champions League title, Man City eliminated Real Madrid in the semi-finals and this could be the basis for the 52-year-old coach to issue the above warning. In total, Guardiola has won the Champions League 3 times in his career, including 2 times with Barcelona and 1 time with Man City.
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