Roberto De Zerbi has assessed the tactical challenges Manchester City overcame to beat Inter in the Champions League final.
The Brighton and Hove Albion coach - hailed as one of the most 'influential' coaches of this century by by City boss Pep Guardiola - was impressed by the way Inter stifled City on the night. In the end, a precise second-half strike from Rodri proved enough for City to run out winners in Istanbul.
It wasn't pretty but City got the job done and wrote their name into the history books - securing the treble under Guardiola after their Premier League and FA Cup triumphs. Champions League success has been City's major objective under the Catalan and they have now got the monkey off their back - even if it wasn't overly comfortable over the 90 minutes.
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"I think Inter played a perfect game in the defensive phase, then they also attacked,” De Zerbi told Bobo TV, the podcast of Christian Vieri. "It is difficult for everyone when there are so few spaces. Manchester City already arrived tired in the FA Cup Final against Manchester United and certainly did not play well.
“Stones is usually lateral of Rodri; in this game he didn't do it. He went further up and put Gundogan behind Brozovic. Putting Stones there was precisely to widen the space for Haaland.
"De Bruyne played on the left to draw Darmian out of position. In my opinion that was the problem - there was little space in front to serve. Inter are another great team... they played very well.
"People talk about Haaland, but if you want a second striker for two upfront, you won’t find better at making the diagonal runs than Lautaro Martinez. Playing against a team that effectively has five at the back is always a problem, but that doesn’t mean you can’t win.
"Darmian was taking on De Bruyne. Bastoni came out to meet Stones - so the only City player who was truly free in the first half was Gundogan. But they were still too close together. It ended up being five pairs of players and the spaces got reduced.”
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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: https://reachsportshop.com/special_edition/manchester-city-treble-winners-2022-23-souvenir-publication/
