Inter made life extremely difficult for Manchester City, capitulating to a Rodri goal and Romelu Lukaku ruining two chances to equalise in the Champions League Final.
The Nerazzurri picked Marcelo Brozovic and Edin Dzeko rather than Romelu Lukaku and not fully fit Henrikh Mkhitaryan, while Pep Guardiola preferred Nathan Ake to Kyle Walker. While one club had won the trophy three times, most recently with a Treble in 2010, the other was trying to win it for the first time and complete their own Treble.
Bernardo Silva cut inside from the right and his cross-shot skimmed the far top corner, while Brozovic blasted over from the edge of the area, but Ederson made two bad errors with his passing, the second allowing Nicolò Barella to have a pop from distance.
The first real save was on 27 minutes when Andre Onana stood tall at the near post to deny Erling Haaland on the Kevn de Bruyne through ball.
De Bruyne pulled up with a right thigh issue and tried to continue for a few minutes before making way for Phil Foden, missing out on another final just like in 2021.
Manuel Akanji ballooned well off target from distance and Hakan Calhanoglu’s strike was charged down on the edge of the area by Rodri.
Dzeko went off with cramp to make way for Romelu Lukaku and Inter almost found the breakthrough moments later, as Lautaro Martinez pounced when Akanji caught napping on a back-pass, but rather than pass to Lukaku or Brozovic, went for goal himself to force the save from an improbable angle.
Alessandro Bastoni made a splendid tackle to stop Haaland going clear, but Manchester City took the lead when Akanji sent Bernardo Silva down the right and his pull-back found Rodri to steer the finish through a tiny gap between defenders.
Inter almost equalised moments later, as Dimarco’s looping header surprised Ederson to bounce off the crossbar, then he tried to nod in the rebound only for his teammate Lukaku to get in the way. They were not offside, the goal would’ve counted.
Lukaku got an angled drive through the legs of Ruben Dias to test Ederson. Simone Inzaghi had to risk it, throwing on new wing-backs and moving Dimarco to central defence.
Foden turned between several players to sprint clear on goal, only to be denied by Onana one-on-one, while Francesco Acerbi made a great interception as Foden tried to set up Haaland.
Inter really should’ve equalised at the 89th minute, but Robin Gosens knocked back the Raoul Bellanova cross for Lukaku’s header, which from four yards was straight at Ederson’s knees.
Barella volleyed wide from the edge of the box in stoppages and with the final kick of the game Ederson made a sensational flying save on the Gosens header, but City complete the Treble and win their first ever Champions League trophy.
Manchester City 1-0 Inter
Rodri 68 (M)
Player statistic
| 59' |  |
Nicolò Barella | ||
| Rodri |  |
68' | ||
| 83' | |
Romelu Lukaku | ||
| Erling Haaland | |
90+2' | ||
| Ederson | |
90+4' | ||
| 90+2' | |
André Onana |
Match statistic
