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Kevin De Bruyne revealed he was carrying an injury throughout the closing stages of Manchester City’s glorious treble triumph. De Bruyne was not on the field as City capped a stunning season by winning the Champions League on Saturday, having finally succumbed to a long-standing hamstring problem. The inspirational Belgian playmaker was forced off after 35 minutes of a hard-fought final against Inter Milan in Istanbul, which City went on to win 1-0 with a 68th-minute strike from Rodri. De Bruyne said: “I give everything for my team and the people in the club know that. I feel proud that I’ve been able to do what I did. “It’s a shame that it went the way it did for me here, but we go away winning the Champions League so there’s nothing bad towards it. “I felt all right this week, but I’ve been told for two months it was a risk – but, you know, you take it. “I did what I had to do. Obviously I missed some games, but the games like Arsenal, Bayern (Munich) and (Real) Madrid I managed to do it. “I had some personal things happen with my family on top of that and I managed that, but, here, the hamstring just snapped.” I’ve been told for two months it was a risk – but, you know, you take it Kevin De Bruyne It was the second time De Bruyne had been forced off in a Champions League final after he suffered a bad facial injury in the loss to Chelsea two years ago. Yet, after City came through, he did not want to dwell on his personal misfortune. “I don’t look at football that way,” he said. “It is what it is. “I felt the team was able to manage it and do their job. OK, the injury is never nice, but I was there for my team and did what I needed to do. “I felt OK in the 35 minutes I played and I can’t expect more from myself.” Victory fulfilled a long-held ambition for De Bruyne after enjoying considerable domestic success in his eight years at City. He said: “I’ve basically been fighting all my career with my team to win this medal. “I still don’t think it defines my career – I know who I am as a football player and person and I am happy and proud of the person I am – but obviously you want to win.” Much has been made of what the victory could mean for City, both as a platform for the current team and for the status of the club as whole, but De Bruyne feels that is a matter for another day. He said: “That’s not something I’m really thinking about right now. The season is so long we should just enjoy this moment. “We’ve had subdued parties up until now, but now we can really enjoy it for a couple of days, as we should. “We’ve not lost one game in the Champions League this season so I think we deserve it.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live Josh Taylor says move up to welterweight is ‘imminent’ after first career defeat Manchester City’s Champions League celebrations in pictures Pep Guardiola: Manchester City ‘part of history’ after winning Champions League

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Manchester City beat Inter Milan 1-0 to win the Champions League and complete the treble at the Ataturk Stadium in Istanbul. Rodri scored the second-half winner for Pep Guardiola’s side to add to their success in the Premier League and FA Cup. Here, the PA news agency picks out some of the best images from the celebrations in Turkey and at home. Treble winners Sealed with a kiss All smiles Party time for Haaland Family affair Safe hands The boss The fans Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live

When Edin Dzeko’s number was up and Romelu Lukaku took the field, the stage was set for the perfect conclusion to Chelsea’s car crash of a season. If Lukaku, the man a team who developed a chronic aversion to scoring, delivered the winning goal in the Champions League, it would be irrefutable proof of Todd Boehly’s anti-Midas touch. Yet there were colliding forces at play and Manchester City duly benefitted. Lukaku’s previous European final for Inter brought an own goal in defeat to Sevilla in the 2020 Europa League. His 2022-23 may forever be defined by his traumatic second half against Croatia, by the four glaring misses that brought Belgium’s golden generation to an end and eliminated his side from the World Cup. But there was a largely luckless sequel. Inadvertently, he blocked Federico Dimarco’s second header after the wing-back struck the bar. When presented with a glorious opportunity, five yards out, he headed against Ederson’s left knee. A player with 351 career goals risks being defined by the ones he didn’t score. But, in fairness to Lukaku, if one man won City their maiden Champions League, it was not him, but Ederson. The Brazilian’s passing can feel more notable than his shot-stopping and he rarely features near the top of the charts for save percentage but he produced three superb stops: first Lautaro Martinez was denied then Lukaku and finally, deep into injury-time, Robin Gosens. There were echoes of a compatriot, Alisson, and the 2019 final: scarcely required in the first three-quarters of the game, he was outstanding at the end. “You have to be lucky. Ederson or they miss it, they could draw,” Pep Guardiola reflected. “This competition is a coin.” Champions League finals can often leave the losers lamenting what might have been. In Inter’s case, there are added reasons to wonder, perhaps for years in the wilderness. “There are no words that can handle the pain but they are the second best team in Europe and that is incredible,” said Guardiola, citing City’s defeat to Chelsea in 2021 to empathise. Yet City may have had that status then; Inter were Champions League runners-up this season but third in Serie A. By some criteria – talent, budget, expectation – they might not be in the continent’s top 10 teams. So this had the feel of a one-off and an emphatic victory in the xG battle showed the quality of their openings, even if pragmatists may care little about such statistics. But if there is never a guarantee teams will return to such occasions, others have been likelier to than this Inter. In 11 previous seasons, they had not even reached the quarter-finals of this competition. An unfancied team overachieved, aided by a favourable draw. Their financial problems mean they will have to continue to beg, borrow and bargain for signings. They may face battles to retain Martinez and Nicolo Barella, two of their most valuable assets. Their starting 111 cost £113 million, less than City paid for Jack Grealish and Manuel Akanji alone. Age counts against them: the 35-year-old Francesco Acerbi and the 37-year-old Dzeko offered improbable tales of unexpected progress at points when some of their peers have retired. In all probability, neither will win the Champions League. The old were joined by the old-fashioned. There were points where Inter appeared to be trying to play the 2003 Champions League final in 2023; their seeming passiveness baffled City, their static approach confusing them. Among elderly strikers, manager Simone Inzaghi seemed to cover more ground than Dzeko, the antidote to gegenpressing, standing still rather than hassling City’s defenders. Even when it was walking pace, Dzeko walked less than anyone else. And yet, with their inactivity, Inter exerted a strange kind of control and when Rodri scored, they suddenly started to create: largely from set-pieces and crosses but in a way that showed the merits of Inzaghi’s seemingly antiquated 3-5-2 formation, of having wing-backs who could get forward and twin strikers in the box. Lukaku’s misses notwithstanding, perhaps he should have started. Otherwise, Inter may have been the best version of themselves: organised, tactically astute, confident in their own gameplan. It was an advertisement for Italian strategy, for ignoring the fashions elsewhere in football; Inter looked a team who had plotted a path through the knockout stages with expert nous. Relatively few City players performed anywhere near their best – perhaps only Ederson, John Stones and Nathan Ake, though Kevin de Bruyne created two chances with incisive passes before his early departure – while the majority of those to excel were Nerazzurri. Alessandro Bastoni, Marcelo Brozovic, Dimarco and Barella were all terrific. Andre Onana made a fine first-half save from Erling Haaland. It took a telling deflection to unlock them: not from Rodri’s shot but Bernardo Silva’s cross, which struck Acerbi and fell obligingly for Rodri. For Inter, it might be the hard-luck tale without another chapter. For Inzaghi, reaching the Champions League final on a lesser budget may be a greater feat than Antonio Conte’s unaffordable Scudetto. He has had to be resourceful. He almost reaped the ultimate reward. “I wouldn’t trade these players for anyone and today the whole world saw why,” Inzaghi said. “We conceded little against a very strong team. We have many regrets, but we must be proud.” But pride and regrets could go hand in hand. Inter could have pulled off the greatest shock in a Champions League final since 2005, since it was last in Istanbul. And instead, Lukaku has more harrowing moments to relive. Read More Watch live: Manchester City leave Istanbul after Champions League win Pep Guardiola ended 12 years of hurt thanks to masterful midfield reinvention Manchester City treble-winners can be judged among the greats – Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola hailed his players for writing themselves into history after Manchester City finally claimed Champions League glory. City secured the prize they have craved for so long when they beat Inter Milan 1-0 in a hard-fought final in Istanbul on Saturday night. Rodri scored the only goal of a tough contest in the 68th minute at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium, landing City’s first European crown after several years of near misses and completing the treble. Guardiola hopes all of City’s successes, including their five Premier League titles in the past six years, will now be given due credit without the shadow of Champions League under-achievement hanging over them. The City manager said: “Especially this season, the entire world has said if we don’t win the Champions League we will not be complete, it will not be enough. “Winning these five Premier Leagues and arriving in three semi-finals, and two finals, is exceptional, but everyone says, ‘no, you have to win’. “But winning the Champions League every season is difficult unless you are Real Madrid. The other ones sometimes arrive and do it. “Not just for me, for the club, for our CEO and players – we had everything but not the Champions League, as if the Premier League is nothing. “So I like this competition for the fact we won it, to be part of history. The players know they will be remembered for the rest of their lives. “But now give credit for the five Premier Leagues we won in six years. “It is important because people now forget about it and focus on creating a museum to put all our trophies in, because what we have done in the last years is unbelievable, not just the Champions League, but many titles.” City had to dig deep to claim the trophy against a determined Inter side. The Italians sat deep to soak up pressure but, with City also lacking their usual sparkle and losing Kevin De Bruyne to injury in the first half, they grew in confidence. Inter were just beginning to assert themselves when Rodri broke the deadlock, driving from the edge of the area after a Bernardo Silva pass was deflected into his path. They then lived on the edge with Federico Dimarco hitting the bar and having another good chance before Romelu Lukaku was denied by Ederson in the dying moments. City will now celebrate their treble with an open-top bus parade in Manchester on Monday. Guardiola has said he hopes City’s Champions League win will prove the first of many but his tongue was firmly in cheek as he responded to a question over whether the club could build a dynasty like Real Madrid. “We are just 13 Champions Leagues away from them – just 13!” he said. “So be careful Real Madrid because we are on our way. If you sleep a little bit we will catch you.” Read More Charity boss speaks out over ‘traumatic’ encounter with royal aide Ukraine war’s heaviest fight rages in east - follow live MMA great Amanda Nunes retires after win over Irene Aldana at UFC 289 Rory McIlroy in striking distance as he chases Canadian Open hat-trick Sunny Edwards defends world title with unanimous win over Andres Campos

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