Man City turn a match to forget into a night to remember forever

And breathe.

Manchester City are champions of Europe for the first time in their history, but not before putting their fans through an excruciating night with a performance well below their best. What was almost Typical City became Treble winners City with a second-half Rodri strike that settled a nervy night full of errors that left Pep Guardiola on all fours in exasperation.

Nobody connected with the club will want to remember the game but the achievement will go down in history forever and will be celebrated by every Blue as wildly as it deserves. As the full-time whistle blew at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul though, relief was the primary emotion sweeping across the winners.

In the days since beating United in the cup final, it has increasingly felt like this had to be the night. It didn't of course, because had they not won they would still be likely challenging next season, but everything was aligned to help a team with two trophies claim their third and in doing so claim a European crown that has always - and often painfully - eluded them.

Read next: Man City player ratings as John Stones stands out

The team were in better shape than 2021 and Guardiola had gone back to his basics with a 3-4-3 formation that brought Barcelona their first Champions League title when he was a midfielder, using John Stones high up the pitch. Even Sheikh Mansour was in attendance for a VIP list that included Yaya Toure, Sergio Aguero, Mario Balotelli and Carlos Tevez, while twenty thousand Blues defied travel chaos in Istanbul thinking that if this was not it, would it ever be and how would City recover from yet more heartbreak?

The start, perhaps to be expected, was cagey.

Bernardo Silva flashed a shot across the post