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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Isaac Johnson

Guardiola’s tearful De Bruyne message and other things spotted in Man City Champions League final film

Manchester City fans may have already watched the Champions League final back multiple times since their triumph in Istanbul, and now they have been given a new behind-the-scenes look.

UEFA has released an 18-minute documentary capturing the build-up, in-game action and post-match celebrations of the night for City fans to relive all over again. The film covers from the press conferences the day before to all the way to the trophy lift and beyond.

A number of moments of interest were spotted during the recording.

Pep’s emotional embrace with De Bruyne

There was an outpouring of emotion from all of the City staff and players at full-time, be it screams of joy or tears of happiness. Guardiola was no different, and was captured enjoying an emotive exchange with De Bruyne.

READ MORE: Gundogan's final act as Man City captain sums up his legacy

After De Bruyne said ‘thank you’, a crying Guardiola replied: “We did it. We did it. We did it. Seven years of fighting, we did it. We did it, Kev. Now we have it.” De Bruyne replied: “Now we celebrate.”

“Phil! Phil! Phil!’

In a cruel repeat of history, De Bruyne failed to see out the 90 minutes and had to be taken off with injury before half-time. When the Belgian sat down on the turf, Guardiola almost immediately turned to the bench and intensely screamed ‘Phil!” repeatedly to get Foden's attention to warm up.

The playmaker ultimately came on for De Bruyne a few minutes later when the midfielder trudged off having tried to play on before signalling to the bench. The City manager looked visibly frustrated.

Dias' half-time message

As City were about to come back out for the second half, cameras picked up Guardiola in a huddle with his City players ahead of the biggest 45 minutes of their season.

What the UEFA documentary microphones picked up shed more light into what was said. It was Dias who was leading the motivation calls, saying: “If someone misses, [inaudible], we go again and again. Let’s go.”

Gundogan’s goal reaction

Gundogan drops to the turf (UEFA)

A stream of City players darted towards Rodri in celebration when the midfielder found the net in the second half. One player did not follow all the way.

After a giant hug with Erling Haaland, Ilkay Gundogan sank to the turf, looking emotional as his fist thumped the turf. A member of City’s backroom staff ran towards him amid the celebrations to either join in his delight or check he was not injured.

Amid the huddle of hugs after the goal, players could be heard shouting ‘keep going’ and ‘don’t stop’ with Manu Akanji telling John Stones ‘fight until the end’.

‘They know my name!’

In the days after the final, Foden’s young son, Ronnie, became somewhat of a social media hit.

He has earned the nickname ‘El Wey’ - which translates from Spanish as ‘The Dude’ - for his boundless energy, having also featured in City's own documentary last year.

He was known by some City fans prior to the final, and so they chanted his name, shouting ‘We love you Ronnie’, as he made his way down the tunnel on the shoulders of his Dad following the post-match celebrations.

His reaction was priceless. “They actually know my name!” he giggled with a huge smile on his face.

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