A REIGN SUPREME

City have every opportunity to make Istanbul'a start

- SIMON BAJKOWSKI

IN many ways, City's triumph in Istanbul was the end of a cycle for the club.

After disappointment two years previously in the Champions League final against Chelsea, this time even owner Sheikh Mansour was in attendance for just his second-ever match to witness the Blues win the one major trophy that had always eluded them.

It had taken 15 years and over £1bn in investments, yet City had become not just the dominant force in English football but also, finally, kings of Europe. In case that wasn't enough, it had been achieved as the third and most spectacular leg of a Treble an achievement only managed once before by an English team.

The sense of relief poured out of everybody connected to the club as the final whistle went at the Ataturk Stadium as fans and players alike gleefully celebrated completing something that they never dreamed was possible.

"Seven years of fighting, we did it. We did it, Kev! Now we have it!" cried an emotional Pep Guardiola on the pitch with star midfielder Kevin de Bruyne.

And yet, by the time chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak had seen his manager on the pitch, the question that will fascinate the game and send dread around the rest of Europe had been spoken about: what if this was a beginning as much as an ending? What if this was in fact a coronation that marked the start of a reign?

City had for years before been one of the best teams in Europe, only to suffer an agonising defeat whenever it looked like they would mark that with the most prized silverware in the game. They may have lost some experienced players, but with a competitive squad and the genius of Guardiola there is no reason why the Blues cannot make it back-toback triumphs.