Manchester City's Champions League win on Saturday night could be seen as a culmination of various things.
The most obvious was to see it as everything the ownership group have been looking for since taking over the club in 2008, a European triumph to complete their gatecrashing of the traditional elite and catapult their status even further in the world to further grow the club. Sheikh Mansour's presence at only his second City match in 15 years and first since 2010 certainly cemented the open secret that this was the trophy most desired by the hierarchy.
It was also a redemptive night for Pep Guardiola, so often the brunt of criticism during City's many painful exits in this competition over the last six years. The best coach in the world ensured that his career would be defined by the Champions League when he won two in his first three years of coaching, yet each subsequent exit had left his critics with a growing amount of ammunition; hopefully, they have now been neutralised.
If it was fitting that it was his first signing at the Etihad who lifted the trophy in Istanbul - Ilkay Gundogan in the homeland of his parents - the night belonged to another revelation: John Stones. We simply have to talk about Stones.
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Guardiola flatly refutes the idea that he has influenced English football despite the evidence all around, but Stones could be his biggest triumph as a manager and the greatest gift given to the England national team. It wasn't that the former Everton defender was bad before, but there were serious questions when City paid £47m to sign him from Everton in 2016 and he became the poster boy for the tiki-taka nonsense that many decided in Guardiola's first year in English football simply wouldn't work.
City's manager fiercly stuck by his player, declaring him to have more balls than anyone else in the room, but then lost faith. Personal issues and injury problems led to the Blues being ready to accept offers for a player in 2020, only for Eric Garcia's determination to join Barcelona to give him a reprieve.
A remarkable renaissance followed the next year alongside Ruben Dias, but while he was excellent last year when he played it was another year disrupted by injury. This season, and especially the last few months, have been nothing short of extraordinary.
Stones has become the secret to City's charge to the Treble, nominally in the team as a defender but playing a complex, hybrid role that has outfoxed opponents. He saved his best for the final, popping up everywhere from centre-back to the furthest forward running on to Erling Haaland flick-ons in a performance that still struggled to be believed even as you were watching it.
It is not seven years that Stones has been doing this role, it is several months, yet here he was - a boy from Barnsley absolutely bossing a Champions League final to help an English team win the Treble. An Englishman who was seen almost exclusively as a centre-back until about March completed the most dribbles in the biggest game in European club football (6/6) since Lionel Messi in 2015 for Barcelona against Juventus (10).
That is a mindboggling comparison but what Stones is doing on a football pitch commands that he must be viewed in the highest bracket of players. On Saturday, he showed the balls that so impressed Guardiola to carry his side when so many of his teammates were cracking under the pressure.
Enormous credit must, of course, go to the player, for the mentality to bounce back and make the most of his abundance of talent. Like so often in this team though, the vision for the role must go to Guardiola.
In the many ways that this night is looked back on, the journey and transformation of Stones into one of the best players in world football and a champion of Europe cannot be understated.
The Treble of Premier League, FA Cup and UEFA Champions League is the ultimate footballing achievement and you can get your hands on the only official souvenir publication of Manchester City's history-making 2022-23 season, packed with amazing pictures, match reports and reaction. Get your copy here.
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