Manchester City and Al-Ahly, new European and African champions
A goal from Rodrigo, the Atletico Madrid academy player who played just one season with the red-and-white club, gave City their first Champions League title against Inter Milan at the Atatürk stadium in Istanbul.
The English side took over from Real Madrid in Europe, although Pep Guardiola had already written off their presence in the competition after the second leg in which they thrashed Los Blancos at the Ettihad.
In 2008, the Abu Dhabi United Group bought the English club from the former Prime Minister of Thailand and began a long race to reign in the Old Continent that has culminated in 2023 after 1.23 billion euros in transfers in the last five seasons alone with Pep Guardiola in the dugout.
The Spanish coach was hired more as an advisor than a coach. He brought to Manchester trusted people he had known during his triumphant time at Barcelona. Ferran Soriano, Rodolfo Borrell, Beguiristáin, Estiarte, Vicens or the physical trainer Lorenzo Buenaventura are the architects of returning to reign in the Premier League with five leagues and 14 titles in total including the Champions League in 2023 which, by the way, was never a great objective as the Spanish coach has always repeated. They have always fought for the Premiership and to be great in England rather than outside.
The final was not a great game. Inter held on much longer than the prophets of doom who expected a clear-cut English rout. Lukaku had one of the great chances in the final minutes to tie the game, but Ederson found the ball under the line.
The only goal was scored by Rodri. The former centre-back in Luis Enrique's time as Spain coach switched to City's midfield to control Guardiola's football and performed at the highest level.
His accurate shot from the edge of the box capped a project that was doomed to another 2020 defeat like the one against Chelsea. De Bruyne was injured after half an hour and the nightmares of that final came back to the minds of the silent fans who had travelled to Istanbul.
Inzaghi has worked a miracle with Inter. Veteran players like Dzeko, Lukaku, Brozovic and Lautaro were able to play the kind of football that Real Madrid dominate in Europe, but they were unable to win. The future of this team does not look good because the renewal will be expensive.
City's Champions League may be the end of Guardiola's cycle, but also of the club itself, which is pending an investigation to find out where their fortune comes from and why they are able to live in losses.
At least, among the nouveau riche of oil, it follows the example of Abramovich's Chelsea and not that of PSG, which is still trying to reign in Europe on the back of big signings.
On Sunday it was the turn of the African Champions League final with Wydad and Al-Ahly. In this case, the second leg was played at the Mohammed VI stadium in Casablanca. In the first leg, the Egyptians won 2-1 at the Cairo International Stadium.
The stands of the Moroccan stadium were full of support for their team. PSG President Nasser al-Khelaïfi attended the big African football event and watched the match from the stands.
Wydad opened the scoring after 27 minutes with a free-kick that was poisoned on its way into the Egyptian goal. The match was a madness of uncontrolled attacks by the home side, who were looking for a second goal at all costs to give them their fourth Champions League title.
But with 12 minutes to go Al-Ahly equalised with a header from centre-back Abdelmonem to silence the boisterous crowd. From that point on the match became a heated affair with constant brawls that cost the visitors up to three yellow cards for unsporting behaviour.
Al-Ahly reached the African Champions 11 in a match that served as revenge for last year's defeat to the Moroccans. The Egyptians will play in the forthcoming Club World Cup alongside Manchester City, Mexico's Leon, Japan's Urawa Red Diamonds, New Zealand's Auckland City and Al-Ittihad, champions of host Saudi Arabia. The Libertadores champions will be missing.