Manchester City finally weather their storm

It wasn't easy but, for the first time in their history, Manchester City are Champions League finalists.

"This has felt like a proper Champions League," defender Kyle Walker said in the wake of the hard-fought but well-earned semi-final win over Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday evening.

"We have had tough moments, weathered the storm and in previous years we probably didn't do that very well.

"That just shows the maturity and the togetherness that we have got as a team now and hopefully we can take that into the final.

"Let's not get too carried away with ourselves, we have still got a final to go and win, but we are there and that is the main thing, putting this club in the final and making history."

The tough moments Walker spoke of are many. This is the 10th consecutive season of Champions League football for City but only once previously had they reached the final four. Indeed, the last three forays into the latter stages had ended at the quarter-finals.

So, despite unrivalled success on the domestic front, this next step, earned by two Riyad Mahrez goals at the Etihad added to the two crucial away ones scored in Paris a week ago, marks a watershed first for the club.

"I think reaching the final of the Champions League helps us to make the bigger picture," manager Pep Guardiola said, still beaming in the afterglow of knowing he would personally be returning to the final for the first time since 2011.

"What we have done in these four years is incredible, in terms of the Premier League, Carabao Cup, FA Cups, every competition we have played, but reaching the final helps us to understand what we have done.

"Reaching the final in this competition is so difficult. It's the toughest because of quality of opponents, the composure you have to have, the suffering in toughest moments.

"We did it, we made an incredible Champions League season. We deserve to be there and we are going to play the final."

Just as the two legs against Borussia Dortmund were in the last eight, this meeting against the French champions and last year's finalists was a battle and the sort of contest that, as Walker alluded to, in previous years City would not have overcome.

A more resolute City 2.0 has emerged this season, and while that will soon see them crowned Premier League champions for a third time in four years, it was for the European stage that it was principally designed.

The addition of presumptive Player of the Year Ruben Dias - outstanding on Tuesday night against the Parisians - has proven particularly key, but the reemergence of the likes of John Stones and Oleksandr Zinchenko around him have been almost equally so.

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They needed all of that newly-acquired toughness in a game that, upon Mahrez's second goal on the night, soon turned ugly with Angel Di Maria sent off for the visitors and other teammates lucky not to follow him.

"You need your game management to be second to none because players on this stage are going to punish you. I also think you need a bit of luck," Walker added.

"In certain situations, we put our body on the line and defended really well. We got goals when it was probably against the run of play but that just shows where we have matured and dug in and got the goals we wanted.

"It wasn't easy, I can assure you, especially with the array of talent they have got, but I thought it was a good, professional, solid performance as a team."

The final will see them face either Premier League rivals Chelsea or 13-time winners Real Madrid - a game they obviously still have to win - but to make it to Istanbul at all, after falling short so many times before, still means a great deal to those who have been on the journey throughout.

"We still need to finish the job in Istanbul but it is the icing on the cake so far this season," says Walker, who swapped Tottenham for City back in 2017.

"Obviously we have an important game at the weekend against Chelsea but we need to enjoy this moment, it doesn't come around often. I can assure you that, I have been trying a number of years to get to the final. We have finally got there and it is full credit to everyone.

"I think this club needed this final, the players needed this final. I've said it numerous times, with the amount of talent we have got in the dressing room, for us not to be in the Champions League final is a disappointment every year.

"For us to finally get there is fantastic and it's down to all the hard work, not just from the players but everyone surrounding the club. We've finally got there and hopefully we can do Manchester City proud."