Manchester City should have done better than the quarters but without star turns, like those of Neymar and Ángel Di María, it is an uphill battleFinally, for the first time in their history, Paris Saint-Germain are one victory away from glory in Europe’s top club competition and from realising the great ambition of their Qatari state-owned benefactors, Qatar Sports Investments. They have won 18 major domestic trophies since QSI bought the club in 2011, but the Champions League is the hardest trophy to buy. Just ask Manchester City.When Neymar moved to PSG from Barcelona for £200m three years ago he was seen as the final piece of their Champions League jigsaw, and I am sure he would have expected to...
With Bernardo and David Silva, Riyad Mahrez and Ben Foden left on the bench, City spent much of the Champions League defeat to Lyon crouched behind a defensive guardYou failed. No matter. Fail again. Fail in pretty much exactly the same way.How many times, Pep, how many times? The idea that Pep Guardiola over‑complicates knockout games has become such a truism it seems impossible a manager of such clarity of thought could still be following that pattern; still finding ways to insert his own anxieties,his maniacal intellectualism into the fine details of elite knockout football. Related: No excuses for Manchester City's defeat to Lyon, says Pep Guardiola Related: Dembélé at the double as Lyon crush Man City's Champions League dream...
City were far superior but at 1-1 looked vulnerable. Their failure to make the most of their many chances will concern GuardiolaFor a while now, it has been apparent that the goals-against column in the Premier League table did not mean what it appeared to when considering Manchester City. It shows 35 goals conceded, the second lowest total in the league, just two behind the champions, Liverpool. But that does not mean City have the second-best defence in the league.Friday’s Champions League win over Real Madrid was highly impressive, an emphatic 2-1 defeat of the newly crowned Spanish champions that represented City’s finest European night at the Etihad of the Sheikh Mansour era, but it also highlighted that the fact...
Twenty-year-old excelled against Madrid and his talent is such he could play in any number of roles across midfield and attackNot long after Pep Guardiola arrived at Manchester City in the summer of 2016, a few of the academy players were invited to train with the first team during pre-season. Afterwards, Guardiola was almost beside himself with excitement. “Did you see that kid in the centre of the field?” he asked his staff incredulously. He liked the look of Brahim Díaz. He liked the look of Jadon Sancho. But it had taken only one training session for Guardiola to fall in love with Phil Foden.Still, the course of true love rarely runs in a straight line, and in many ways...
Liverpool’s key advantage over Manchester City was their ability to better organise attacks and manage the transition to defenceIt has become increasingly clear this season that, at elite level, two attributes separate the very best managers from the rest: their capacity to manage the transition from attack to defence; and their ability to organise an attack, particularly against deep-lying opponents. Jürgen Klopp has excelled at both and the Swabian school of pressing, of which he is the leading practitioner, becomes ever more widespread.The figures have been muddied by Liverpool’s recent relaxation but, after 31 games of the season, the week the title was confirmed, Manchester City had scored seven more goals than Liverpool; Liverpool had conceded 12 fewer. Essentially, what...