We welcome the Italian giants to the Etihad Stadium for the start of our 2024/25 Champions League campaign on Wednesday evening, looking to get our first points of the brand new league phase.
It’s the first time we have played Simone Inzaghi’s team since the 1-0 victory in Istanbul in June 2023 that saw us lift the Champions League for the very first time and seal an historic Treble.
In fact, this is only the second ever competitive encounter between the sides after that unforgettable night.
While Pep Guardiola and his players make it their duty to march relentlessly on in search of more silverware, this is the perfect opportunity for fans to reflect on a special occasion in our club’s history.
We arrived in the Turkish metropolis for that showpiece full of confidence after beating Arsenal to the Premier League title and then overcoming Manchester United in the first ever all-Manchester FA Cup final.
Fans travelled from Manchester and around the globe as early as they could, eager to soak up the atmosphere in the sprawling city and potentially drown out any nerves.
Having crushed both Bayern Munich and Real Madrid in the previous rounds, we had more than earned our spot in the final.
There we faced an extremely well organised Inter team, with Pep Guardiola warning his players in training beforehand that Italian sides are capable of anything when it comes to major finals.
The week’s build up and the day itself are all captured incredibly in Together: Treble Winners, the Netflix series produced by City Studios, with the sheer weight of pressure evident for all to see.
City had already reached this stage once before of course, losing to Chelsea in the 2021 final.
But as Chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak explains in Together: Treble Winners, that experience taught the team all they needed to know to get the job done this time around.
After weeks of talking and years of striving to win this competition, the players walked out at the Ataturk Stadium to a sea of sky blue filling one half of the stands.
We weren’t at our best in the first half, as we struggled to break down the stubborn defence before us.
Half-time arrived and while the nerves were palpable in the stands, Guardiola was calm and clear in the dressing room.
He told his players exactly what they needed to do to break down Inter’s walls, even going as far as describing how the wingers can create space for the likes of Rodrigo to shoot from the edge of the box.
Lo and behold, that was the source of the only goal of the game midway through the second half.
Our Spaniard forever etching his name in the Club’s history books with a placed finish that sent one half of the Ataturk into bedlam.
An anxious wait for the final whistle ensued, with Ederson forced into incredible saves to deny Inter’s growing desperation.
Eventually, the match was over.
Players and staff spilled out on to the pitch, fans fell to their knees in the stands and an all-night party for all in Istanbul, Manchester and watching from around the world was under way.
Under Guardiola, City have become used to winning. It’s never taken for granted, with City fans well aware just how hard it is to do what this team makes look routine.
However, you only win Europe’s elite tournament for the first time once. For City, that came against this week’s opponents.
On both sides, some players have moved on. But many of the key protagonists that night remain in post at City and Inter, so when the two sides line up at the Etihad it’s sure to set many a mind flashing back to 10 June 2023.
With eight matches to play in the league phase, nothing about the destination of this year’s Champions League will be decided no matter the result this Wednesday.
Nevertheless, you can be sure that every future meeting with Inter will be special for any City fan who witnessed that great evening back in June 2023.
