2133 – Huge City scare just moments after going in front as a looping header from Federico Dimarco hits the bar. He then heads against team-mate Lukaku on the rebound.
2127 – GOAL! Man City 1 Inter Milan 0
City break the deadlock in the 68th minute with a fine strike from Rodri.
Akanji plays Bernardo Silva into the area and his cut-back is deflected into the path of Rodri, who passes the ball into the net from just inside the area.
2117 – Big left-off for City. A mix-up between Manuel Akanji and Ederson allows Martinez in down the left, but the Brazilian goalkeeper stands tall and denies the Inter man.
Ruben Dias then heads over as City threaten at the other end.
The game is starting to open up.
2116 – Dzeko off, Lukaku on for Inter.
2110 – Opening for City as Inter give the ball away at the back, but they are unable to take advantage as the Italians shut the door. More frustration for the Premier League champions.
2104 – The second half is under way.
2048 – Half-time: Man City 0 Inter Milan 0
Inter will be the happier side after that opening half. Work to do for Guardiola during the break.
2036 – De Bruyne is forced off injured!
The City talisman tries to run off what looks like a hamstring problem but, after over-hitting a cross, signals to the bench he can’t continue. Phil Foden is on.
It means further Champions League final woe for De Bruyne after he left the field with a facial injury during City’s loss to Chelsea two years ago.
2029 – Not a good sight for City. De Bruyne down receiving treatment, but is back on the pitch.
2027 – Chance!
Haaland so close to giving City the lead. The striker is sent clear by De Bruyne and his left-footed finish is well kept out by Onana.
2025 – Inter are giving the City players no time at all on the ball and Guardiola’s men are struggling to get their creative players into the contest. Food for thought for the manager.
2016 – The City owner is here.
2016 – A cagey opening 15 minutes. City are having the majority of possession as expected, but Inter are ultra aggressive and look like they have the potential to be a threat on the counter.
2011 – The fans’ view.
2006 – Chance!
City go close. Bernardo Silva cuts into the area from the right and whips a left-footed shot narrowly wide of the far top corner.
2000 – Kick off!
Inter get us under way in the Champions League final.
1945 – 15 minutes to kick off in Istanbul.
1942 – Walker “will be absolutely fuming” at being left on the bench, according to Rio Ferdinand.
“Inside the blood will be boiling,” he said on BT Sport.
1930 – Haaland getting his eye in.
1920 – City fans back home are also braced for the big match.
1910 – The City players are out on the pitch.
1907 – Guardiola revealed Walker’s omission was tactical rather than injured-related.
“He could be there, it was really tough because Kyle is so important,” he told BT Sport.
1905 – Black smoke billowed over the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in the hours prior to kick-off due to a fire at a nearby factory, but there was no suggestion it would affect the game.
1900 – The City squad are in the building.
Their team bus had to navigate the traffic congestion and perhaps arrived later than ideal, but was still at the stadium by 8.40pm local time, with the game due to start at 10pm.
1835 – The team news is in!
Kyle Walker is on the bench for City. The England full-back suffered an injury scare late in the closing minutes of the FA Cup final last weekend.
Walker did not feature in an open training session earlier in the week and, although the suggestion at the time was his absence was precautionary, his expected place in the side went to Nathan Ake.
Ake was likely to start at left-back, with Manuel Akanji switching to right-back.
Ederson returned in goal for Stefan Ortega, but the side was otherwise the same one that started both semi-final legs against Real Madrid and against Manchester United at Wembley last Saturday.
Dzeko starts ahead of Lukaku for Inter.
1820 – The stadium is filling up, despite reports of heavy traffic on the way to the ground.
1810 – Mario Balotelli won the treble with Inter in 2010 and was a Premier League and FA Cup winner in his three years at City. But the Italian is remaining strictly neutral tonight.
“I’m not going to put myself in one of the two sides,” he said on BT Sport.
1805 – As well as the players, the pundits are also gearing up for a big night.
1755 – Another English side has rather fond Champions League memories of the Ataturk Olympic Stadium. Hard to believe this was 18 years ago.
1740 – How Inter would love to have this man in his prime back in their midfield.
1735 – City owner Sheikh Mansour will be at tonight’s game, only the second game he has attended since his investment vehicle, the Abu Dhabi United Group, purchased City in 2008.
1725 – City are aiming to match the feat previously only achieved in English football by their cross-city rivals Manchester United in 1999, but how do their two seasons match up?
United lost only three games in their treble-winning season, but a remarkable 21 draws in 57 games across the three competitions in question sees City overshadow them in most other statistical categories.
Excluding the League Cup from both teams’ records and with their 57th and final game still to play, Pep Guardiola’s side have 41 wins (73.2 per cent) to United’s 33 (57.9 per cent), 144 goals to 121 and 25 clean sheets to 20.
They have conceded only 39 goals to their predecessors’ 56, scoring an average of 2.57 per game and conceding 0.70, compared to 2.12 against 0.98 for United.
1710 – Unlike City, Inter know what it takes to win this competition, though. Remember this?
1705 – We know all about City, but how about tonight’s opponents Inter? Let’s take a closer look at the side standing between City and the treble.
Their success is built on their mean defence. Simone Inzaghi’s combative team have kept a tournament-high eight clean sheets in their 12 matches, including five from six in the knockout stages, with goalkeeper Andre Onana a star performer.
They also boast Argentinian World Cup winner Lautaro Martinez up front, alongside two familiar faces in former City striker Edin Dzeko and Romelu Lukaku.
They had a mediocre Serie A campaign, though, finishing 18 points behind champions Napoli to sit third and losing 12 of their 38 games.
City know this is their final to lose.
1703 – The trophy is here.
1650 – Another taste of the atmosphere out in Istanbul:
1640 – Let’s have a look at how both teams got here:
1625 – 52-goal striker Erling Haaland looked in relaxed mood at training yesterday, but says he is not immune to pressure.
“Of course I feel pressure, I would lie if I said I didn’t,” he said.
In fact the Norwegian has only one goal in his last seven outings, but Guardiola for one is not concerned – “I don’t have doubts. If you have doubts about Erling scoring you are a very lonely person.”
1615 – City go into the match as red-hot favourites and Pep Guardiola and Kevin De Bruyne both admitted on the eve of the game that winning the competition had become both a dream and an obsession.
“To achieve things you always have to have the correct proportion of obsession and desire. It’s a positive word for the desire and will to win it. It is of course a dream for us,” said Guardiola.
1610 – Our man in Istanbul is inside the Ataturk and has the very precise timings for tonight.
1605 – Less than four hours to kick-off and the atmosphere is building. Both sets of fans certainly seem to be in good spirits.
1600 – Good afternoon and welcome to the PA news agency’s Champions League final blog. Stay here for all the build-up, key match action and post-game reaction as Manchester City and Inter Milan slog it out in Istanbul.
Chelsea 8-0 Noah: Ruthless Blues stay perfect after first-half rout
Chelsea continued their quest for the knockout stages of the Europa Conference League by hammering Noah 8-0 on Thursday.
Enzo Maresca's side are one of six sides still with a perfect record in the competition, but sit top of the pile with their superior goal difference following their Stamford Bridge mauling.
Tosin Adarabioyo headed the hosts into a 12th minute lead before Marc Guiu capitalised on Goncalo Silva's loose pass 84 seconds later to double their advantage.
Chelsea notched their third from another corner, this time through Axel Disasi, with another defensive error punished by Joao Felix's deft finish over Ognjen Cancarevic.
Mykhailo Mudryk then netted the pick of the first-half goals with a curled effort into the top corner, with Felix grabbing his brace four minutes before the interval.
It then took Chelsea 24 minutes to get their seventh. Christopher Nkunku saw his initial effort saved by Cancarevic but was able to squeeze in the rebound at the near post.
Yan Eteki then fouled Kiernan Dewsbury-Hall in the box, with a penalty given after a VAR review. Nkunku stepped up and smashed the ball down the middle for his fifth goal of the competition this season.
Data Debrief: Blues sink Noah's Ark
Chelsea are on a roll in the Europa Conference League and have now scored 16 goals in their three games in the competition so far.
Six of those came in the first half, with their 6-0 advantage at the interval the biggest by an English side at the break of a major European game since Derby County were winning 9-0 against Finn Harps in the 1976-77 UEFA Cup.
The Blues ended the contest with a whopping 5.44 expected goals (xG) from their 31 shots, compared to Noah's 0.61 from their 15 attempts on Filip Jorgensen's net.
Manchester United 2-0 PAOK: Brilliant Amad earns hosts first Europa League win
Amad Diallo scored twice as Manchester United finally earned a maiden victory in the Europa League this season with a 2-0 triumph over PAOK.
The Red Devils drew their opening three matches of the league phase but the excellent Amad netted twice in the second half after a fine individual display at Old Trafford.
The winger was unfortunate not to have a first-half penalty after a trip from Abdul Baba, while his deep cross for Rasmus Hojlund was headed straight at the goalkeeper from close range.
Andre Onana then tipped Mady Camama's dipping half-volley over shortly before the break but Amad broke the deadlock when he brilliantly looped his header over Dominik Kotarski from Bruno Fernandes' delivery.
Andrija Zivkovic almost responded immediately before Alejandro Garnacho had strong shouts for another spot-kick from Jonny Otto's challenge waved away before Amad tested Kotarski one-on-one.
United had a huge let off when Tarik Tissoudali was left unmarked in the area and woefully straight at Onana, but Amad settled any nerves with a brilliant bending 20-yard effort into the left-hand side of the goal with 13 minutes remaining.
Data Debrief: No Greek tragedy as Amad ensures there's no unlucky number seven
Prior to their victory over the Greek side, United were winless in six consecutive European matches (D4, L2), matching their worst stretch since 1980 to 1983. It means they have still never gone seven without a win in European fixtures.
Moreover, it maintains a formidable home record against Greek opposition for United, who have now won seven straight matches on their own turf against teams from Greece at an aggregate score of 22-1.
Amad was, of course, influential in the victory and his opening goal marked his first in the Europa League since netting against Milan on March 11, 2021.
It marked his first ever brace for United, while five of his goals across all competitions for the club have now come at Old Trafford.
Spurs youngsters will learn from Galatasaray defeat, says Postecoglou
Ange Postecoglou believes Tottenham's youngsters will have learned a lot from their 3-2 defeat to Galatasaray in the Europa League on Thursday.
Yunus Akgun's stunning opener was cancelled out by 19-year-old Will Lankshear's first senior goal for Spurs, before Victor Osimhen's brace put the hosts in control at the break.
Lankshear, however, would be sent off for a second bookable offence on the hour-mark, though Spurs did reduce the deficit through Dominic Solanke with a man less.
Postecoglou named several inexperienced European players in his starting line-up, with 18-year-old's Archie Gray and Lucas Bergvall also starting at Rams Park.
But the Spurs boss believes that his younger players will learn from the experience against Okan Buruk's side.
"Look, Will took his goal well, he worked hard for the team. Obviously, he hasn't had a lot of experience in senior football, so he would have learnt a lot today," Postecoglou said.
"The red card, it was a bit of overenthusiasm at that moment to give away a foul, but he'll learn from that. The same with Lucas. Giving him an understanding of the levels here.
"It is not easy when you are playing away in Europe. You can only allow them to learn that by exposing them to it.
"I thought Archie was great. It was a tough game for us defensively at different times, but I think we'll get so much growth out of him because he's not playing in his position.
"I guess for three teenagers in the starting line-up, I think they'll learn a lot from it, and hopefully it helps with their development."
At 19-years-old and 201 days, Lankshear is now Tottenham’s youngest goalscorer in major European competition since Harry Kane (18-years-old and 140 days) netted against Shamrock Rovers in the 2011-12 UEFA Europa League.
However, he became the third-youngest player to both score and be sent off in a Europa League game after Aleksandar Mitrovic for Partizan Belgrade in November 2012 (18-years-old and 67 days) and Federico Chiesa for Fiorentina in December 2016 (19-years-old and 44 days).
Despite the score-ine, Spurs were comfortably second-best against Galatasaray as they suffered their first defeat in the competition this season.
They faced 28 shots from their opponents, their most in a game under Postecoglou.
It is the most efforts faced by an English team in a Europa League group stage match since Everton faced 39 shots against Wolfsburg in November 2014.
And Postecoglou believes his side only had themselves to blame for the defeat, citing a number of mistakes as their undoing in Turkey.
"I just felt it was self-inflicted. We had real simple solutions out there to keep the ball. It wasn't that hard. We showed it with 10 men," Postecoglou added.
"We just needed to be stronger on the ball and play the kind of football we play every week.
"Maybe it was a little bit the changes I made and the environment and atmosphere, but the moments that stick out to me was giving the ball away.
"We were playing through them quite easily with 10 men but with 11 men we had nowhere near that conviction and that was disappointing."
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