Pep Guardiola was looking forward to an Istanbul final but has no problem with the Champions League showpiece event being moved to Porto.
UEFA confirmed on Thursday lunchtime that Portugal would host the biggest match in their club calendar for a second successive year after last season's final stages were moved to Lisbon. Istanbul have now twice been denied the final after the UK government placed Turkey onto the red list of countries for international travel in response to concern at the Covid rates and told supporters not to travel for the match.
That prompted frenzied discussions over the last seven days as the UK offered to host the game at Wembley but could not accept some of the requests and compromises UEFA wanted, resulting in Porto being chosen instead. Six thousand fans from each club will be able to attend the May 29 final, although the cost of the trip will be significantly more than it would have been had the game been staged in the UK.
Guardiola has not been to Istanbul in his managerial career and was pleased for midfielder Ilkay Gundogan that they would be heading there - the German's parents are Turkish and the country is a strong part of his identity - but the coach will accept UEFA's decision.
"If UEFA decide that, we're going to go there," he said. "I have not had the pleasure to go to Istanbul since my period as a footballer at Barcelona. I never had the opportunity again to go there in the Champions League draw at Barcelona, Bayern Munich or here.
"I wanted to go there for Ilkay Gundogan but UEFA decide to go to Porto so no problem there."
