Manchester City have finally managed to win the Champions League. After 15 years since the arrival of rich owners from United Arab Emirates, Pep Guardiola’s side won the trophy they wanted the most, thus officially moving European football towards an end of one, and the start of another era of modern football.
After beating Inter Milan 1-0 in the grand finale in Istanbul, Man City are now the latest addition to European club champions, making Manchester only the second European city to have two clubs win the competition. But now this victory not only gained City a much coveted prize, but also means the completion of a treble – adding Champions League trophy to previously won Premier League and the FA Cup.
While we risk to sound bitter and annoyed at Man City’s successes, their treble campaign cannot really be compared to that of Man United in the 1998-99 season. There are no delusions here – Man City are clearly and by far the best team in Europe right now. They thrashed Leipzig 7-0, they went past Bayern Munich that no one even remembers those matches and then they destroyed Real Madrid 4-0 in their favourite competition. It is simple – Pep Guardiola has made a brilliant team that could keep winning trophies in the Champions League for years to come.
But behind that simplicity are not only Guardiola’s dedication towards creating a perfect squad which will win everything there is to won. Looking at those trophies in vacuum – without the context of an unlimited budget, support by a oil-rich non-democratic country, and more importantly, cheating of rules for which UEFA already mildly punished them, and Premier League has accused them of 115 violations in the past 10 years – it would be like admiring mega successes of Facebook or Apple. It is great they brought joy to many average consumers, but that does not erase all the bad things they brought to us.
If Guardiola’s trophies in the Champions League with Barcelona were the pinnacle of modern football, with pure artists in the team, many of which hailed from their academy, this win with City is a start of a new reality. The differences between even the richest clubs are becoming more pronounced, because some of them have no financial limitations. The thing is that some clubs with unlimited budgets knew what to do, such as City, and some didn’t, such as Paris Saint-Germain.
Manchester United’s triumph in 1999 was a spectacle throughout, with the team full of homegrown players battling through several incredibly hard obstacles, getting back into matches when going behind and showing resolve that puzzled European football throughout. Compared to such a climactic treble win 24 years ago, these Man City’s successes felt more like a mere procession. It was almost the question of time when it will happen, considering the machinery behind their club.
Maybe all this sounds like angry blathering, maybe these seem like comments of someone angry with everyone and everything. But on the contrary, City’s victory in the Champions League, however deserved, as no other victory before, produces indifference among regular football lovers, even some Man United fans.
City have won the Champions League… So what?
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