Man City 1-0 Inter: Player ratings as Rodri strike settles Champions League final

Manchester City won their first ever UEFA Champions League title with a 1-0 victory against Inter in Saturday's final.

Pep Guardiola's men completed the treble with a tense but hard-fought victory at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.

Inter put up a tremendous fight and were not short of chances, but ultimately couldn't land a killer blow and will head back to Italy as runners-up.

Erling Haaland's inevitable first sight of goal came with two minutes on the clock when he peeled away from Francesco Acerbi and met a through ball from Kevin De Bruyne, though he fired over and a late offside flag went up anyway.

Half of the Ataturk thought that Man City had taken the lead with their next attack. Rodri's switch of play was brought down by Bernardo Silva, who was afforded space by Federico Dimarco to roam into the 18-yard box and get a shot away, whistling past the far post.

Despite their technical superiority, Man City looked nervous throughout the first half, with Ederson guilty of some sloppy passes out from the back. On one occasion he played the ball straight to Nicolo Barella, whose speculative effort from nearly 40 yards sailed wide.

This was swiftly followed by the first clear chance of the evening. De Bruyne again found Haaland running in behind, and the Norwegian's first-time strike was struck with venom, but at a nice height for Andre Onana to beat away.

Man City were dealt a hammer blow just after the half-hour mark when De Bruyne was forced off for the second time in a Champions League final through injury, with Phil Foden coming on to replace him.

Nerves remained constant heading into the second half, with Man City gifting Inter a glorious chance. Manuel Akanji opted to let a loose pass run back to Ederson but the weight on the ball was not strong enough, allowing Lautaro Martinez to intercept. However, the Brazilian made himself look big and blocked the shot from the tight angle.

With 68 minutes gone, Man City broke the deadlock. Akanji's cleverly-disguised pass into Silva caught Inter cold, though Acerbi was able to retreat and block his cross. However, the ball fell kindly to Rodri, who smashed it in at the near-post with venom from around 15 yards.

Inter went ever so close to equalising almost immediately. Akanji allowed a looping ball to bounce in the box, but he was unaware that Dimarco was ghosting in behind him and he headed it onto the bar. Dimarco was first to the rebound but could only strike the ball back off of teammate Romelu Lukaku.

Phil Foden should have put the tie to bed when he raced away from a split Inter backline, darting into the box with a delectable piece of trickery and forcing Onana into a low save with a driven shot.

Two minutes of regulation time remained when Inter again nearly levelled the scores. A deep cross from Marcelo Brozovic was headed back into the mixer by Robin Gosens, and Lukaku's close-range header was denied by the leg of Ederson, with Ruben Dias reacting quickest to put the ball behind.

Ederson then made one final save from a thumping Gosens header at the end of five minutes of added time before Man City were crowned kings of Europe for the first time.

Manchester City player ratings (3-2-4-1)

GK: Ederson - 8/10 - Kicking was so far below his usual standard, but at least he came up with some important saves down the final stretch.

CB: Manuel Akanji - 5/10 - His ingenuity indirectly led to Rodri's goal but he made a strange series of decisions at the back which seriously threatened to harm Man City.

CB: Ruben Dias - 9/10 - Imperious. Won most of his duels and was for long stretches the only calm head at the back for his side. Didn't put a single foot wrong at a time where he could have ill afforded to.

CB: Nathan Ake - 6/10 - Brought back into the starting lineup in place of Walker. Understandably looked a little rusty but he was at least a positive for Man City.

DM: John Stones - 8/10 - Sometimes guilty of leaving gaping holes in midfield but this was largely due to his free role, which he otherwise played to a high standard in a final yet again.

DM: Rodri - 8/10 - Weirdly turned the ball over at an alarming rate and was hounded into various errors, but ultimately scored the goal which won Man City the Champions League and that's what mattered.

RM: Bernardo Silva - 6/10 - Showed glimpses of technical brilliance, particularly early in the game and in the lead up to Rodri's goal, but his moments were few and far between.

AM: Kevin De Bruyne - 6/10 - Carved out a couple of decent openings before succumbing to a hamstring injury.

AM: Ilkay Gundogan - 5/10 - Far quieter than in last week's FA Cup final, which could have been a problem particularly after De Bruyne had to be withdrawn. It didn't cost Man City in the end, however.

LM: Jack Grealish - 5/10 - Excellent at foul-baiting but little else. Found it difficult to break down Inter when they were set defensively.

CF: Erling Haaland - 5/10 - Nullified by a combination of Darmian, Acerbi and Bastoni bar his early exploits.

Substitutes

Phil Foden (35' for De Bruyne) - 6/10 - Couldn't get much of a foothold in the game until Man City went ahead and it naturally opened up for him to slickly operate.

Kyle Walker (82' for Stones) - 6/10

Subs not used: Ortega, Carson, Laporte, Gomez, Lewis, Phillips, Perrone, Palmer, Alvarez, Mahrez

Manager

Pep Guardiola - 7/10 - Tried to calm his clearly anxious charges down. They managed to hold their nerve.

Inter player ratings (3-5-2)

GK: Andre Onana - 6/10 - Like Ederson was uncharacteristically a liability with the ball at his feet, but did keep Inter in the tie with his shot-stopping.

CB: Matteo Darmian - 7/10 - Caught ball-watching for the goal a little, though was otherwise impressive in silencing Haaland.

CB: Francesco Acerbi - 8/10 - Often the leader of Inter's operation to take Haaland out of the game. Unfortunate to be on the losing side.

CB: Alessandro Bastoni - 8/10 - Similarly excellent in stifling Man City, while was often the man to try and bring the ball out from the back.

RM: Denzel Dumfries - 5/10 - Somehow, someway, the ball always seemed to be at Dumfries' hesitant feet when Inter mounted their most dangerous attacks, which often came to nothing for this reason.

CM: Nicolo Barella - 6/10 - Refused to shy away from possession or shirk his off-ball duties, though lacked the cutting edge of an accurate final ball.

CM: Marcelo Brozovic - 7/10 - Swept up so cleanly in midfield and was a catalyst for Inter's last push for an equaliser.

CM: Hakan Calhanoglu - 5/10 - Sank in the depths of the midfield battle and was only noticeable when threatening to unleash a trademark thunderbolt from distance.

LM: Federico Dimarco - 6/10 - Galloped up and down the left flank causing Man City problems. May have nightmares about his missed header.

CF: Lautaro Martinez - 6/10 - Led the press and needed more support in this regard. Hard to put the blame at his door for not capitalising on Akanji's error but it's a moment he might not ever forget.

CF: Edin Dzeko - 5/10 - The former Man City star looked leggy from the off, clumsily stumbling over the ball with only two minutes gone. Failed to make a positive impact from there on in, with Inter hampered by his inability to press.

Substitutes

Romelu Lukaku (56' for Dzeko) - 5/10 - Provided the perfect spark of energy that Dzeko didn't bring, but was painfully wasteful in front of goal.

Robin Gosens (76' for Bastoni) - 6/10

Raoul Bellanova (76' for Dumfries) - 6/10

Henrikh Mkhitaryan (84' for Calhanoglu) - 5/10

Danilo D'Ambrosio (84' for Darmian) - 5/10

Subs not used: Handanovic, Cordaz, De Vrij, Skriniar, Gagliardini, Asllani, Correa

Manager

Simone Inzaghi - 6/10 - Inter can be proud of their efforts, pushing Man City to the very brink. If they had one other forward in their prime on the pitch, they might have done enough to win.

Player of the match - Ruben Dias (Man City)

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