Seeding for the 2023-24 Champions League season was finalized after Manchester City’s victory over Inter Milan in Saturday’s final.
Manchester City and Sevilla were placed in Pot 1 as winners of the Champions League and Europa League, respectively, while the remaining places were awarded to the winners of the top six leagues in Europe.
However, with City winning the Champions League and the Premier League this past season, Feyenoord were placed in Pot 1 as a result of the Eredivisie champion being moved up from Pot 3 to fill the vacant top-seeded spot that was reserved for the champions of England’s top flight.
The second pot is particularly interesting, as it features five teams who have previously won the Champions League. It includes 14-time winners Real Madrid and two three-time winners in Manchester United and Inter.
The remaining pots are comprised of teams based on UEFA’s coefficient score. The last two pots have vacancies that’ll be filled after the qualifying stage is complete.
The preliminary round of Champions League qualifying begins June 27 and is scheduled to finish Aug. 30. A day later, the group stage draw takes place, with one team from each pot being placed into a group of four.
The Champions League group stage kicks off Sept. 19.
Pot 1
Manchester City (England), Sevilla (Spain), Barcelona (Spain), Napoli (Italy), Bayern Munich (Germany), Paris Saint-Germain (France), Benfica (Portugal), Feyenoord (Netherlands)
Pot 2
Real Madrid (Spain), Manchester United (England), Inter Milan (Italy), Borussia Dortmund (Germany), Atletico Madrid (Spain), RB Leipzig (Germany), FC Porto (Portugal), Arsenal (England)
Pot 3
Shakhtar Donetsk (Ukraine), FC Salzburg (Austria), AC Milan (Italy), Lazio (Italy), Red Star Belgrade (Serbia)
Pot 4
Celtic (Scotland), Newcastle United (England), Union Berlin (Germany), Lens (France)
Manchester City beat Inter Milan 1-0 on Saturday to capture their first Champions League title and complete their quest to win a historic treble.
Rodri’s second-half goal was the difference in the tightly contested match, as the Spanish midfielder broke the deadlock in the 68th minute with an unstoppable strike inside the Inter box.
In conquering Europe, Manchester City became the 10th different team – and eighth different club – to claim a continental treble after winning the Premier League and FA Cup earlier this season.
“I’m emotional, it’s a dream come true. All these guys (the fans) around here waiting 20, 30, 40 years,” Rodri told BT Sport after the match. “I’ve been here just four years but we deserve it. We were so close these last years but when you go to semifinals, finals, finally God gives you this present … It’s a dream for all of us.”
Manchester City didn’t have a straightforward path to immortality.
Inter played inspiring football in their attempt to produce an unlikely win against a heavily favored Manchester City side at the Ataturk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul.
The Italians continuously disrupted City’s attempts to find a rhythm throughout the contest and employed an aggressive attacking scheme despite the threat posed by their opponents on the counter.
Though chances were few and far between in the opening 25 minutes, Ederson didn’t do his defense any favors after multiple gaffes invited pressure against City that Inter ultimately failed to capitalize on.
Erling Haaland came close to scoring with a close-range effort that Andre Onana saved before Manchester City suffered an injury blow at the half-hour mark. Star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne tried to play through a hamstring problem, but was replaced minutes later by Phil Foden.
After halftime, both sides continued to press for the opening goal. Inter came close after a miscommunication between Manuel Akanji and Ederson almost gifted a goal to Lautaro Martinez, whose shot from a tight angle was saved by the Brazilian goalkeeper.
With the prospect of extra time on the horizon, Manchester City struck with just over 20 minutes remaining. Akanji’s through ball to Bernardo Silva led to a cut-back that was deflected into the path of Rodri, who unleashed a powerful strike into the Inter goal before celebrating wildly with teammates.
An urgent Inter Milan tried desperately to score an equalizer after Rodri’s goal, with Romelu Lukaku coming agonizingly close in the 88th minute with a header from six yards that Ederson saved with his knee on the goal line.
The Manchester City goalkeeper was called into action again in injury time, making an important finger-tip save to maintain his team’s advantage seconds before the final whistle.
Rodri was named Man of the Match. Erling Haaland, who had 52 goals in all competitions this season, was held scoreless for the fifth game in a row to end his record-breaking first season at City.
Pep Guardiola now joins a select group of managers to win the Champions League title three times. Carlo Ancelotti, Bob Paisley, and Zinedine Zidane are the only other men’s coaches to accomplish the feat. The Spaniard also became the first men’s head coach to win multiple trebles in his career, having previously done so with Barcelona.
“We managed to win in Europe – suffering, but it’s normal. Sometimes you need this luck that we didn’t have in the past,” Guardiola said.
“This competition is a coin. It was written in the stars.”
Manchester City are the first English team to win such a treble since Manchester United in 1999.
Leeds United owner Andrea Radrizzani has reached an agreement to sell his stake in the club to 49ers Enterprises, the second-tier English side said Friday.
49ers Enterprises, the investment arm of the NFL’s San Francisco 49ers, has been a shareholder at Leeds, recently relegated from the Premier League, since its initial investment in May 2018.
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Over the past few years, its stake increased to 44%, while Radrizzani’s Aser Ventures owned the remaining 56%. Leeds said that a purchase has now been agreed.
“Both parties continue to work through the details, and further updates will be provided soon,” they said in a statement.
Earlier this season, Radrizzani and partner Matteo Manfredi made a purchase of the relegated Serie A club Sampdoria.
Leeds were relegated from England’s top tier after a roller-coaster season under four different managers. They finished second from bottom in the standings on 31 points and will now compete in the EFL Championship next season.
“All of our focus remains on a quick return to the Premier League,” the statement added.
This season’s Champions League final, the first competitive meeting between treble-chasing Manchester City and underdogs Inter Milan, is finally here. Get ready for Saturday’s match with theScore’s comprehensive preview package.
The lowdown ?
Who: Manchester City vs. Inter Milan What: 68th European Cup final When: Saturday, June 10 at 3:00 p.m. ET Where: Ataturk Olympic Stadium (Istanbul, Turkey) Referee: Szymon Marciniak (Poland) VAR: Tomasz Kwiatkowski (Poland)
Manchester City: -220 Draw: +340 Inter Milan: +550
The latest news ?
Analysis ?
Tactics, key questions, and a prediction in our in-depth preview.
“The fundamentals of Manchester City’s approach haven’t changed. This season, they still led the Premier League in the usual metrics – such as possession and time in the opponents’ half – and remained bottom in statistics such as frequency of long passes and speed of attacks. Continuity is what makes this version of City most different from others during the Pep Guardiola era. There are fewer question marks about what the Spaniard will do for the big matches: Overthinking – a lazy media critique that leaned on the few instances a novel approach went wrong and disregarded the many times a Guardiola tweak paid off – has been increasingly unlikely as the season progressed.” Read more.
Further reading ?
Dive into some of the storylines surrounding the contest.
Injury updates ?
The latest on the lingering lineup questions.
PLAYER
INJURY
STATUS
Kyle Walker (Manchester City)
Back
Expected to be fit
Henrikh Mkhitaryan (Inter)
Thigh
Expected to be fit
Joaquin Correa (Inter)
Calf
Expected to be fit
Milan Skriniar (Inter)
Back
Doubtful to play
Predicted lineups ?
Manchester City (3-2-4-1): Ederson; Kyle Walker, Ruben Dias, Nathan Ake; John Stones, Rodri; Bernardo Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Jack Grealish; Erling Haaland
Inter Milan (3-5-2): Andre Onana; Matteo Darmian, Francesco Acerbi, Alessandro Bastoni; Denzel Dumfries, Nicolo Barella, Hakan Calhanoglu, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, Federico Dimarco; Lautaro Martinez, Edin Dzeko
The kit matchup ?
Path to the final ?
Reviewing how both teams got to Istanbul.
Manchester City
Group stage: First place in Group G Round of 16: Beat RB Leipzig (8-1 on aggregate) Quarterfinals: Beat Bayern Munich (4-1 on aggregate) Semifinals: Beat Real Madrid (5-1 on aggregate)
Inter Milan
Group stage: Second place in Group C Round of 16: Beat Porto (1-0 on aggregate) Quarterfinals: Beat Benfica (5-3 on aggregate) Semifinals: Beat AC Milan (3-0 on aggregate)
By the numbers ?
This season’s raw Champions League statistics for the two finalists.
MANCHESTER CITY
INTER MILAN
7-5-0
Record
7-3-2
31
Goals Scored
19
5
Goals Against
10
Erling Haaland (12)
Top Scorer
Edin Dzeko (4)
Looking into some advanced metrics.
MANCHESTER CITY
INTER MILAN
25.5
Expected Goals (xG)
16.2
8.9
xG Against
14.1
+1.39
xG Difference per 90
+0.18
Tournament pedigree ?
Best European Cup finish for both clubs.
Manchester City: Runners-up (2021) Inter Milan: Champions (1964, 1965, 2010)
Manchester City, this season’s Premier League and FA Cup winners, have hoovered up silverware since Guardiola’s arrival but continue to chase the big-eared trophy that has, thus far, proven elusive. They’ll be making their second appearance in the final after their narrow defeat to English peers Chelsea in 2021. Inter, meanwhile, have featured in club football’s showpiece match five times before, emerging victorious on three occasions. Simone Inzaghi’s men are also aiming to finish the campaign with multiple trophies after retaining their Coppa Italia crown last month.
Fun facts ?
Manchester City: Guardiola has an opportunity to enter rarefied territory on Saturday. With a victory, the Catalan manager would join Carlo Ancelotti, Bob Paisley, and Zinedine Zidane as the only men’s coaches to win the European Cup three times; Ancelotti is the lone bench boss to hoist it on four occasions. Guardiola, 52, led Barcelona to glory in 2009 and 2011, but hasn’t been able to repeat the feat since. He’ll look to end that drought in Turkey.
Inter Milan: Inzaghi is looking to become the first Italian coach to lead the Nerazzurri to European success. Inter’s previous triumphs were engineered by iconic tactician Helenio Herrera, the Argentine-French coach who oversaw the club’s “Grande Inter” era in the 1960s, and decorated Portuguese manager Jose Mourinho. Mourinho’s 2010 triumph included a famous semifinal victory over Barcelona, then coached by none other than Guardiola.
What they’re saying ?
Guardiola: “Of course we are confident, so optimistic, but at the same time I cannot deny the difficulties and qualities of the opponents … We know a final is about how you behave for 95 minutes. It’s not about history, for history they are better than us. It doesn’t matter what you do in the group stage, last 16, quarterfinals, Premier League, or FA Cup. It’s one single game you have to be better than the opponent.”
Inzaghi: “For us it was a dream but we have always believed in it. I’m proud to be here. Nobody has given us anything, we deserve everything that we have achieved. And now the dream to play the final has come true. It has been an extraordinary path and winning a derby in the semifinal brought particular satisfaction.”