Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola has revealed that he got a touching message from Sir Alex Ferguson on the morning of the Champions League final against Inter Milan which his team eventually won. The Citizens became the second side in English football history to win the treble after securing their first Champions League title on Saturday night, beating Inter 1-0 in the final.
Guardiola sharing a moment with Alex Ferguson. Source: Getty The only other team to achieve such a feat was Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United team of 1999, who also won the Premier League and FA Cup before beating Bayern Munich with two late goals in a stunning Champions League final in one season. Manchester United had the chance to scupper their noisy neighbours’ treble dreams in last week’s FA Cup final, but they fell to a 2-1 defeat at Wembley. Ilkay Gundogan’s opener, the fastest goal in FA Cup final history, was cancelled out by a penalty from Bruno Fernandes, but the German midfielder managed to ice the game with another goal in the second half. For Guardiola, the victory on Saturday, June 10, marked the third Champions League triumph of his managerial career after winning the competition twice during his time at Barcelona. Nevertheless, to have won it again in a Treble-winning campaign made it all the more special for the Spaniard.
Manchester City team celebrate winning the Champions League title against Inter Milan. Source: Getty Asides from sharing details of the text he got from Alex Ferguson during an interview with reporters, Guardiola also noted that the Champions League is one difficult trophy to win. He said; “I was so happy to get a message from Sir Alex Ferguson on my phone this morning. It touched me. I am so happy to be sat alongside Sir Alex. Winning the Treble is so difficult, but it was written in the stars that we would win this season. “This trophy is so difficult to win. This competition is a (toss of a) coin. But now it belongs to us. We knew it would be hard and we were anxious in the first half. It was a question of being patient – and we also had to be lucky with Ederson at the end. “The momentum came from winning the Premier League and FA Cup and now we have this. I am tired, calm and satisfied. I have no energy to think of next season, when we will start from zero. We’re going to celebrate in the hotel with family and friends and on Monday the parade is in Manchester.”
