Manchester City claimed their first Champions League title and completed a famous treble for the club as they beat Inter Milan 1-0 in a tension-filled night at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
The Italian club had done brilliantly to limit their much favoured opponents for the majority of the match but Rodri’s 68th minute strike proved enough for the Citizens to become European football’s premier champions.
As a result, City manager Pep Guardiola lifted the Champions League trophy for a third time, an honour that only Carlo Ancelotti can better thanks to his four competition wins.
The Sporting News has dug into the data behind the game, with all the key stats and facts below.
Pre-match
- Heading into this match up, Manchester City and Inter Milan had never faced off in a competitive match. It also meant that the 2023 Champions League final was the first time two sides had faced for the first time in the showpiece final since 2005 when Liverpool faced AC Milan.
- Manchester City entered as the heavy favourites as they came into the final unbeaten across their 12 Champions League matches this season (W7, D5). They were also unbeaten across 12 matches when they reached the final for the first time in 2021.
- Similarly, Inter also arrived in Istanbul in fine European form. The Italian side were unbeaten across their previous six matches in the Champions League knockout phase this season (W4, D2). They’d also kept eight clean sheets across their 12 Champions League matches all season — the most of any side in the competition.
- Inter Milan were featuring in their 11th major European final, the third-most of any Italian side behind Juventus (16) and AC Milan (14), whilst Manchester City were looking to become the 23rd club to win the Champions League, and the first new name on the trophy since Chelsea back in 2012.
- In the dug-out, Pep Guardiola and Simone Inzaghi were in charge. Only Carlo Ancelotti had managed in more Champions League finals (5) than Guardiola (4), whilst Inzaghi became only the second Italian coach to lead Inter to the final of the Champions League after Giovanni Invernizzi back in 1972.
- Out on the pitch, Ilkay Gundogan became the first German to captain a non-German side in a Champions League final. For Inter, Marcelo Brozovic became the first Croatian to captain a team in the showpiece event.
The first half
From kick off, the 2023 Champions League final proved a tense affair with Inter Milan making life much more difficult for Manchester City than most were expecting before the meeting.
- As expected, Manchester City held the majority of the possession in the opening stages but Inter’s Marcelo Brozovic was getting through the work. Through the first ten minutes, he reclaimed possession for his side four times — just one fewer than everyone else on the pitch combined (5).
- Inter began to grow into the match soon after. On the 18 minute mark they’d played five passes into the Manchester City box, whilst Guardiola’s side hadn’t recorded a single one.
- The main talking point from the opening 45 minutes came with the injury to Kevin De Bruyne. It meant that Manchester City’s talisman had been forced to leave the field in both of his Champions League finals.
- Although chances were few and far between, there were still some standout performances. No player had more touches in the opposition’s box during the first half of Manchester City vs. Inter Milan than Jack Grealish (4). The English midfielder also ranked second for duels won (5).
- For the opposition, Marcelo Brozovic both made the most successful tackles (2) and won possession back for his side more times (7) than any other player.
- On the other hand, Erling Haaland struggled. In the first half he had just nine touches of the ball — the fewest of any player who started the final.
- As expected on the team front, Manchester City led most categories at the break. They made 278 successful passes to Inter’s 156 and had three times as many touches in the opposition’s box (9) but the Citizens could not find the breakthrough.
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The second half
Just like in the first half, the opening exchanges of the second half proved cagey with Manchester City really struggling to break down their Italian opposition until the 68th minute.
- After the ball fell to him on the edge of the box, Rodri netted just his second ever Champions League goal to put City in front.
- The Spaniard had scored his first goal in the competition earlier this season in a quarterfinal victory over Bayern Munich. The strike in the final doubled his tally across his 47 prior appearances in the UCL.
- Rodri also became the first central midfielder to score in the Champions League final since Real Madrid’s Casemiro back in 2017.
- That strike meant that all seven goals scored in Champions League finals at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium had all come at the same end of the pitch.
- Emerson then held firm in the City goal to keep Inter Milan off the score sheet. He made two crucial saves to keep his side ahead.
- One of those came from Romelu Lukaku’s close-range header. Despite coming on in the the 57th minute, the Belgian international had chances worth 0.64xG — the second most of any player after Federico Dimarco (0.68xG) — but failed to find the back of the net.
The wrap up
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Manchester City complete a famous treble by winning the Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup in the same season. It’s just the tenth time in history that a treble has been completed in Europe.
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England have now provided the most individual winners of the Champions League with six: Manchester City join Liverpool, Manchester United, Nottingham Forest, Aston Villa and Chelsea in lifting the famous trophy!
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City boss Pep Guardiola has now won the treble for the second time in his managerial career, becoming the first manager to do so with two different clubs (Barcelona in 2008/09 and Manchester City in 2022/23).
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Manchester City become the first team since rivals Manchester United in 2007/08 to go a full Champions League campaign unbeaten.
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The last four Champions League finals have now all ended 1-0, more than the previous 27 finals combined (3).
100 – Manchester City have scored 100+ goals more than they’ve conceded in three of the last five seasons (18-19, 21-22, 22-23) – prior to Pep Guardiola’s arrival, no English top-flight side had ever scored 100+ more than they had conceded in a single campaign. Peak. #UCLFinal pic.twitter.com/SX1t7EJFRc
— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) June 10, 2023