John Stones bidding to complete emotional Man City journey with Champions League final win

John Stones says Saturday night’s Champions League winner’s medal will complete his journey from bottom to top. The Stones’ reinvention in a hybrid role as the No. 6 was one of the standout stories of Manchester City’s rapid foray into the Triple Crown.

But ‘Barnsley Beckenbauer’ is preparing for the ultimate test of this new role, the foundation laid three seasons ago when he was likely to leave the club, thereby rebuilding the club. claimed to be able to He will be one of the first names on the team list for the night.

“It was probably one of the toughest times of my career,” said the Stones of the 2019/20 season, which featured just 12 league games and watched every minute of the Champions League knockout stage from the bench. rice field. “I literally went back to first looking at myself, looking at myself very critically and figuring out what I could do better.

“Every detail has been researched, from food, what diet, what training, what training, what additional menus.” Immediately after that, I decided to go home and work. Good result.

“It was all about finding little edges and putting them all together. “It was a big learning curve for me and maybe that’s what made me who I am today.” , one of Pep Guardiola’s most valuable players ahead of Manchester United’s 1999 treble-winning final.

And while the shift in position to a hybrid role may have been a creation of his managers unceasingly innovate tactical mind it is worth pointing out that design was made real by Stoness application, intelligence and talent.

“People have always said from a young age that they can see me playing in there and I think I have showed that I`m able to do it,” he said.

“Maybe showing some attributes that I didn’t know that I had, but the manager has seen something in me. I’m just trying to show what I can do in there, and show what the manager sees in me and be able to help the team win with my attributes.”

Inter will test those attributes but given with a 3-5-2 formation if City stay on the front foot Stonesrole will be key to overloading the middle. Stones is rightly respectful of the three-times winners even if their route to the final was less taxing than Citys with Porto, Benfica and AC Milan on route to the final comparing to City`s RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich and Real Madrid.

“They have great players, we all know that,” Stones said.

“We know what we’re up against. They’re a great team, but we have to be ourselves and focus on ourselves.” They finished a respectable 18 points clear of third-placed Napoli, who are arguably not as great a side as City.

But the Stones say that the journey will be complete when the City reaches the top of Istanbul. When asked if it was particularly cute for him, he replied: For me personally, hopefully after Saturday we can look back with a winner’s medal. Yes, I think it’s very cute. ask me about it.