Manchester City’s season of treble success was written in the stars, says Pep Guardiola

ISTANBUL – Pep Guardiola’s long struggle to win the Champions League again ended on Saturday as Manchester City finally conquered Europe. But he knew this would happen, as the City boss felt this season belonged to him and his side as “it was written in the stars”.

The last time Guardiola lifted the European Cup 12 years ago, his Barcelona put in an era-defining performance to dismantle Manchester United 3-1 at Wembley.

By contrast,

a nervy 1-0 win over Inter Milan in Istanbul

will not go down as one of City’s most stylish in seven golden years since the Spaniard, now 52, arrived in Manchester.

But it was the most significant as the club, who for so long lived in United’s shadow, have now matched the Red Devils’ class of 1998-99 by winning the treble of the English Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League in the same season.

This is exactly what Abu Dhabi envisioned 15 years ago when it acquired City, a middling team, and set out to make them titans.

That it has achieved its aim, given the scale of its investment, should not be a surprise. This was always going to happen: Football is a sport, but it is also a business.

By even a conservative estimate, the City project, designed in Gulf palaces for reasons that have little or nothing to do with sports, has cost a couple of billion dollars.

Nothing has been left to chance. City were dangerous, former Arsenal manager Arsene Wenger once said, because it had both “petrol and ideas”. It is one thing having money. It is quite another knowing how to use it.

City most certainly do. They have one of the finest training facilities in the world. They have a state-of-the-art academy, a global network of sister teams, a bespoke squad stuffed with players handpicked by a vast, expert recruitment team, regardless of their cost.

They also have Guardiola, the finest coach in the world, football’s own galaxy brain, and he has everything he could possibly want.

The one thing money cannot buy, though, is a slice of luck.

“(To) win this competition, to win the treble is so difficult. That’s why today is not important the way; it’s to get it,” he told BT Sport.

“You have to be lucky in this competition. This competition is a coin. But we were there and it was written in the stars this season it belonged to us.”

Guardiola knows all too well about the fine margins that define success or failure in the Champions League.

Since last winning the competition, he had lost one final, five semi-finals and three quarter-finals in 10 seasons at Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City.

So many times fortune deserted him. Lionel Messi missed a crucial penalty for Barcelona against Chelsea in the semi-finals of 2012.

Thomas Muller also fluffed his lines from the spot that cost Bayern a place in the final against Atletico Madrid in 2016.

At City, only a dramatic VAR intervention chalked off Raheem Sterling’s stoppage-time winner against Tottenham in 2019 quarter-finals.

Real Madrid rallied in last season’s semi-final from two goals down in the dying seconds only after a series of remarkable saves from Thibaut Courtois kept the Spanish giants in the game.

This time, Lady Luck shone on Guardiola and City in their hunt for the Champions League title that owner Sheikh Mansour has longed for since buying the club in 2008.

After Rodri gave the English champions the lead 22 minutes from time, Inter were twice centimetres from an equaliser when Federico Dimarco hit the bar before Romelu Lukaku’s late header struck Ederson on the knee.

Guardiola was already widely regarded as the greatest manager of his generation, thanks to 11 league titles in just 14 seasons across three clubs. However, victory at the Ataturk Stadium also silenced the remaining critics of his ability to get the job done in Europe.

Instead, the narrative now flips as Guardiola moves into esteemed company as only the fourth coach to win three European Cups and sixth to win the competition with two different clubs. He is also the only coach to do the treble twice.

“It confirms Guardiola is the greatest. He changes the way we look at football. He’s an innovator. He puts people in different positions, he makes it work,” former Tottenham and Real Madrid defender Jonathan Woodgate told BBC Radio 5 Live.

Added former City defender Joleon Lescott: “Every season, Guardiola has found different ways. He will forever be immortal for the club, for the game.”

“He’s a genius,” said City winger Jack Grealish, who has come to the fore this season after a difficult first year struggling to live up to his £100 million (S$169 million) price tag. “Even last year when I was playing c***, he stayed there with me and this year he’s given me that platform to perform, so I just want to say thank you to him.”

The night was not even over and a caution was sounded off as fans sang club anthem Blue Moon in the backdrop.

“We want more,” Rodri warned.

Erling Haaland, who spearheaded City’s attack with 52 goals this season, added: “In my wildest dreams I would never think of this. After a couple of days when this settles a bit and this feeling of winning this trophy, I will want to do it again for sure.

“We have to defend what we have achieved this season. That’s how it works. In a month, everything is forgotten and we have to start again.”

Forgotten? It was not how former Manchester United and England defender Rio Ferdinand viewed City’s accomplishments.

“Immortal, statues galore. This team deserves all the credit, they are a formidable, fantastic team,” three-time Champions League finalist Ferdinand told BT Sport.

“They have earned it. The scary thing for the rest of Europe is the relentless appetite. This feeling, if you could bottle it, you become addicted to it. It would not surprise me if they are here next year.”

Treble-winning captain Ilkay Gundogan also felt his team deserved the respect and must be considered one of football’s heavyweight clubs.

“Unbelievable. Difficult to put anything in words. Today, we made history,” Gundogan told BT Sport.

“This team deserves the highest recognition, and winning the Champions League elevates us to the very top of the game. We knew everyone was talking about the treble. The pressure was there, but this team is built to handle the pressure in the best possible way.”

However, Guardiola said they have a long way to go before they can be declared true European heavyweights.

“We are now only 13 (Champions Leagues) behind Real Madrid,” Guardiola, who was applauded in and out of the press conference, joked. “If they sleep a little, we can catch them. Some teams disappear after winning the Champions League, so we have to avoid that. But now you can stop asking me about the Champions League.” AFP, REUTERS, NYTIMES