Pep Guardiola revealed he got a good luck message from Sir Alex Ferguson just hours before his Manchester City side clinched the treble.
Rodri’s second-half strike took the Champions League trophy to the Etihad for the first time, as the Premier League champions and FA Cup winners made history in the Ataturk Stadium. City had to ride their luck to come out on top in a battle of attrition with the Italians.
Federico Dimarco hit the bar moments after Rodri had sent City’s 30,000 travelling fans into ecstasy – and then saw his follow-up hit team-mate Romelu Lukaku. And Ederson produced a miracle save to keep out Lukaku’s 89th-minute header.
City have equalled the achievement of Ferguson’s Manchester United in 1999 and Guardiola said: “I was so happy to get a message from Sir Alex Ferguson on my phone this morning. It touched me. I am so happy to be sat alongside Sir Alex. Winning the Treble is so difficult, but it was written in the stars that we would win this season”.
“This trophy is so difficult to win. This competition is a (toss of a) coin. But now it belongs to us. We knew it would be hard and we were anxious in the first half. It was a question of being patient – and we also had to be lucky with Ederson at the end”.
“The momentum came from winning the Premier League and FA Cup and now we have this. I am tired, calm and satisfied. I have no energy to think of next season, when we will start from zero. We’re going to celebrate in the hotel with family and friends and on Monday the parade is in Manchester.”
Match-winner Rodri was named man of the match – despite admitting he played “s**t.” The Spanish midfielder said : “My first half performance wasn’t good enough – I was playing s**t. I am emotional. It’s a dream come true. All these fans have waited I don’t know how many years. They deserve it, we deserve it”.
“It was so hard, but finals are like this. You can’t expect to play well as always. Emotions and nerves are there. We competed like animals and we want more. All of those players who made the club big, like [Sergio] Aguero, [David] Silva and [Vincent] Kompany, this one is for them.”
Jack Grealish echoed Rodri’s sentiment, saying: “I was awful today. I don’t care. To win the treble, with this group of players is so special. Anyone who knows me knows how much of a family person I am and how much I love football, and this is my whole life.”