“Every time I come to Istanbul, I leave with a Champions League trophy” – Gundogan opens up on Manchester City man’s message before treble
Barcelona-bound Ilkay Gundogan has opened up on Scott Carson's message to his Manchester City teammates before the Champions League final win against Inter Milan.
The Cityzens headed into the Champions League final at the Ataturk Stadium knowing that a win would make them only the second English team in history to win the treble.
Istanbul was where Liverpool won the UEFA Champions League final after a heroic comeback against AC Milan to win on penalties after a 3-3 scoreline in regulation time. Carson was a part of that team but made just one appearance in the Champions League that season.
It came in the first-leg 2-1 quarter-final win against Juventus. Carson joined Manchester City in the summer of 2021 but it was always clear that he wouldn't be getting meaningful minutes at the Etihad.
Nevertheless, Carson's message to his teammates before the final against Inter was contribution enough from Gundogan's perspective. The German superstar, who will join Barcelona next month, wrote in the Player's Tribune, via Daily Mail:
"When we got on the bus over to the hotel, I was sitting near Scott Carson. And obviously he had been a part of that Liverpool team that came back from 3–0 down against AC Milan in 2005.
"He said, 'Don’t worry, boys. Every time I come to Istanbul, I leave with a Champions League trophy.' With Scott in the squad, we couldn’t lose, I suppose."
Carson, 37, ended the 2022-23 campaign without a single appearance to his name and has only featured twice for Manchester City since joining them in 2021. His contract at the Etihad expires in 12 months time.
Inter deserved to beat Manchester City in UEFA Champions League final, says Milito
Diego Milito scored twice in the 2009-10 UEFA Champions League final against Bayern Munich to hand Inter Milan a 2-0 win.
It took 13 years for I Nerazzurri to reach that stage again. Milito, who retired in 2016, would have watched the final in Istanbul with great hope but saw his former club lose 1-0.
According to the Argentine, Inter deserved more in the final against Manchester City earlier this month. He told GOAL:
"I think it was very close. Inter have made a great journey in the Champions League, they deserved the final and in my opinion they deserved even more in the final. Inter had a great game, unfortunately football is like that, they weren't able to unlock it and then the day was unlucky."
Inter managed 14 shots to Manchester City's seven and boasted a superior xG (1.68) as compared to the Sky Blues (0.99), as per FotMob. Inter kept just 44% of the ball but created double the big chances (four) as their opponents (two).