3 takeaways from Saturday’s off-script Champions League final

Manchester City beat Inter Milan 1-0 on Saturday to win the Champions League and become just the second English club to complete a continental treble. Here, theScore runs through the biggest talking points from Istanbul.

City achieve immortality while looking mortal

The team that won at Ataturk Olympic Stadium didn’t look anything like the one that hammered Real Madrid in the Champions League semifinals, or the one that captured a fifth Premier League title in six seasons off the back of 12 consecutive wins. On Saturday, the 11 players who best represented Manchester City’s treble chargers looked more like a cheap imitation.

A usually slick, well-oiled machine, City played on empty in the first half. Rodri, City’s typically imperious midfielder, misplaced pass after pass. “I was playing shit, to be honest,” the Spaniard told BT Sport afterward. Jack Grealish also admitted he was “awful.” Kevin De Bruyne seemed out of it, and then suddenly, he was. Record Premier League scorer Erling Haaland had 12 fewer touches than his own goalkeeper and eventually went goalless for a fifth straight match. Ederson looked lost at sea, too.

City were playing for the 61st time this season, and it showed. But they still managed to make history, combining their Premier League and FA Cup success with Champions League glory.

Ironically, City achieved European domination without playing the kind of measured, monopolistic football that made them such heavy favorites in the first place. The team on Saturday relied less on Pep Guardiola’s calculated passing sequences and more on luck to cross the finishing line. Inter gave City all sorts of problems and had numerous opportunities to punish them. But City have dealt with their share of twisted fate. De Bruyne limped off in the 2021 Champions League final, robbing City of their most influential player in their eventual 1-0 loss to Chelsea. Last year, Thibaut Courtois produced a number of stunning saves to single-handedly prevent City from advancing to the final.

They just seemed destined to win this time around. Inter outshot City 14-7, hit the crossbar, and controlled as close of a share of possession as they could’ve hoped. Many could argue the Nerazzurri played better overall and only conceded off a broken play that allowed Rodri to shoot freely from inside the penalty area.

But the Champions League is about these moments. It’s a fleeting competition, not a 38-game marathon that forgives slip-ups. It doesn’t always pay to be the better team in Europe. The Champions League is about maximizing chances, no matter how they appear. City did that. Barely.

Stones’ evolution is revolutionary

Just as City seemed to come apart at the seams, losing every bit of the swagger that underscored their magnificent late-season run, John Stones stepped forward and dared to do more.

His on-ball elegance and confidence seemed to embolden City in the second half. Stones ran into open channels and fought tirelessly to get into a clear enough position to receive the ball. His passes into the final third were as good as any of De Bruyne’s this season, and his dribbling was quite literally perfect.

That a defender by trade could evolve into such a pivotal force of nature is a testament not only to the 29-year-old’s versatility, but also to Guardiola’s man-management skills. Here’s a player who reportedly considered leaving in 2020 because of a lack of playing time. Instead of simply casting him off, Guardiola worked on a way to get him back into the team.

Coaches knew Stones had the passing range and composure to become a midfielder earlier in his career. He also played in the right-back and left-back positions. Guardiola tapped into the potential his player already had, and Stones showed his quality on the ball.

Consider the play he made as City were recovering from one of Ederson’s many blunders Saturday. After Inter’s Lautaro Martinez stung the Brazilian shot-stopper’s arm with an effort from close range, Bernardo Silva collected the rebound and spotted Stones on the right. Once he relieved his teammate of possession in such a dangerous area of the field, Stones controlled the ball and turned Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, embarking on a run along the touchline while keeping the ball in play. Stones then slipped a clever pass into Phil Foden’s feet, setting off a counterattack that resulted in a free-kick just outside of Inter’s area.

Stones released pressure when it was building up. Who knows if City would’ve survived without his poise.

Inter must face reality after dreaming big

Inter really could’ve done it. The upset was theirs for the taking. Even against Guardiola’s serial champions, bankrolled by Abu Dhabi’s royal family, the Nerazzurri showed they can hang with the best Europe has to offer.

Inter just couldn’t finish them off. Nicolo Barella fired 20 yards wide of the goal after pouncing on Ederson’s brutal giveaway down the middle. Federico Dimarco headed off the crossbar and struck Romelu Lukaku with his follow-up attempt. Lukaku missed perhaps the greatest chance of all in the 88th minute, sending his header into Ederson’s feet from point-blank range.

Inter never promised a bucket of goals anyway. That’s never been their game under Inzaghi, a pragmatic coach who’s made a career out of winning games with hard-fought, defensively sound performances. They kept clean sheets in five of their six Champions League knockout matches and taught city rivals AC Milan a lesson in patient, counterattacking football en route to the final.

Though Inter’s strikers had recently come up clutch, their lack of consistency told once more. Edin Dzeko, who went more than three months without a goal earlier in the campaign, failed to attempt even a single shot Saturday. Martinez, the World Cup-winning striker, entered the pitch with an average of one goal for every 334 minutes played in the Champions League. Lukaku also missed considerable time due to injury and started the majority of Inter’s Champions League games on the bench.

What do Inter do now? More importantly, what can they do? Dzeko is 37 and out of contract, Martinez is transfer bait, and Lukaku’s loan deal is set to expire. All the while, Inter have a €275-million loan to repay with a reported 10% interest and a new sponsor to sign following the collapse of their €80-million deal with cryptocurrency firm DigitalBits. The club posted €140 million in losses last season and €245.6 million the year prior. While the money from this season’s Champions League run will certainly help Inter’s cause, it won’t eradicate all of their debt.

Now that Inter’s dream is dead, they must confront reality and find a way to get back to this stage again.