City defeated Inter to lift the prestigious prize for the first time in Istanbul in a momentous moment for the football club.
Begiristain, while delighted to finally earn Europe’s elite honour, said it was the result of consistency in the competition over many seasons.
“Relief. We have been fighting for that,” said Begiristain.
“We have been there for a while. We have been consistent. We have been always playing the Champions League and then being in the knockout rounds, playing semi-finals, playing the final and losing and at the end we could win it.”
On the draw itself, he said that the sight of RB Leipzig – our Round of 16 opponents last time out - in Group G caught his eye because of a certain centre-half we signed this summer from the German Bundesliga club.
“Tough start, again. We are going to visit them,” Begiristain continued.
“The first thing I thought was Josko. Gvardiol. He’s going to visit his friends and I thought of him.
“But it’s going to be amazing. We have good friends in RB Leipzig. We have done business together and it’s always a pleasure to meet them.”
Begiristain also commented on the effect of City’s summer transfer business to date.
Mateo Kovacic, Gvardiol and Jeremy Doku have signed on the dotted line for the sky blues and Begiristain believes the competition for places this creates will be good for the whole squad.
“Any season you have to add new players, you have to refresh the squad, create a competition, be with the players and the players that they are now need to see that the ones coming they can compete and that will make them better as well so that is the reaction,” he added.
