Champions League final: Man City eye historic treble as Pep looks to end club's history of European disappointment
Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are in formidable form as they march on to the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul to play Inter Milan in the Champions League final on Sunday (June 11), with the Spanish manager looking to draw out a different European conclusion than all his previous years with the club.
Lately, Manchester City has grown into a humongous super-power amongst the European clubs. The blue side of Manchester has won the Premier league seven times in the last 10 seasons and are looking formidable even further. But, when it comes to European glory, it always seems that the blue giants of England have nothing but blunt swords in the weaponry. Like every other year, Man City are considered as the favourites to take the title home this year, which would successfully complete their treble, having already won the Premier League and the FA Cup.
City take on Simeone Inzaghi’s Inter Milan in this year’s UCL final, who have also carried out a strong European campaign by beating their derby rivals AC Milan in the semi-final and with the likes of Lukaku, Lautaro Martinez and Dzeko in their attack, they surely look poised to cause trouble in-front of the City goal.
Can Guardiola keep it simple?
In what looks like a pattern, Guardiola has always been criticised for his overly-complicated tactical changes at the last moment of every European campaign, most recently when they lost to Chelsea in the Champions league final of 2021.
Pep had a standard team structure which consisted of two defensive midfielders – Fernandinho and Rodri, who were part of the regular starting that season, when they also won the premier league. On the night of the final, Pep decided to change the entire midfield structure by leaving both the players out of the first team and going with Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gündogan in the middle of the park.
A lot of pundits as well as fans believe that this was one of the main reasons responsible for their defeat and the repetition of such a pattern again this year is surely lurking around the corners of every City fan.
What does the UCL final mean for Pep and his team?
Pep has previously won the Champions league title twice and both of them were with FC Barcelona in 2008-09 and 2010-11 respectively but none ever since. With the Manchester City board recently announcing the contract extension of Pep till the year 2025, the Spanish coach will be looking at this opportunity to secure his reputation as one of the most successful managers in football.
City are going ahead with a dashing pace with their star striker Erling Haaland in the form of his life, having scored 52 goals in 52 matches this season already. The fans think this is bound to be the year when their European jinx ends and so do the questions on the Spanish manager's European credibility.
When and where to watch the final?
The Final will be will be telecasted on Sunday June 11, 12:30 am IST. The match will be telecasted on the following channels in India:
Sony TEN 2
Sony TEN 2 HD (English)
Sony TEN 3,
Sony TEN 3 HD (Hindi)
Sony TEN 4
Sony TEN 4 HD (Tamil and Telugu)
You can also stream the match on SonyLiv app.