‘You have to be lucky’: Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola grateful for small margins

A delighted Pep Guardiola said Manchester City’s 1-0 victory over Internazionale at Istanbul’s Ataturk Olympic Stadium that claimed the Champions League and a historic treble was “written in the stars”.

Rodri’s 68th-minute strike gave City a first European Cup in a hard-fought final in which Romelu Lukaku spurned a late chance to equalise with a header, Ederson saving via a knee at close range.

Guardiola said: “It was written in the stars that we’d win this season – and we did. I’m feeling tired, calm and satisfied. This fucking trophy is so difficult to win. We knew it would be hard. They are really good. We were anxious in the first half but it was a question of being patient. I told them to be patient.

“You have to be lucky, with Ederson at the end, and this competition is [a toss of] a coin. The momentum came from winning the Premier League and FA Cup and now we have this. It was not our best performance. I have no energy to think of next season and we need a break. We will start from zero and it’s our job. Winning the treble is so difficult.”

City join Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United 1998-99 vintage as the only English teams to claim the treble. Guardiola said: “It is a honour to sit alongside Sir Alex Ferguson – I got a message in my phone this morning from him that touched me.”

This was City’s 12th major trophy under Guardiola. “Maybe we can build a museum for all the trophies,” he said.

Guardiola thanked the club hierarchy. “They support me unconditionally in the defeats in this competition,” he said. “In many clubs if that would happen you are sacked.”

Of next season, Guardiola said: “No, don’t talk, I need a break. My chairman said: ‘Oh, London is next season’s venue [Wembley] of the final,’ so I don’t