When a club ceases to be that hapless entity that drew you in, it seems success is not as much fun as everybody assumesS ilenus the satyr, stumbling with age and wine, was taken captive by the Phrygians and taken before King Midas. But the king recognised him as a friend and joyfully led a celebration of his guest’s arrival, lasting 10 days. On the 11th day the king with gladness came to the field of Lydia and restored Silenus to his foster son, Bacchus. The god, delighted at his father’s return, offered Midas a gift. “Make it,” Midas said, “so Manchester City, whom I supported even in the Third Division days, are the richest club in the world.” Bacchus...
Part of the thinking behind the signing of Brazilian in 2017 was that he would in time become Manchester City’s most effective striker. Perhaps this has now happenedGlory, glory Hallelujah, é Gabriel Jesus. The busker outside the Maracanã knew his audience. For a while the walkway to the stadium was closed before Brazil’s Olympic final, the pre-match crowd backing up down the stairs as fans in yellow shirts sang along to the in-vogue dirge of the Rio games, a chant set to the tune of the US civil war song about John Brown’s body mouldering in his grave, and adapted here to take in the feats of a slightly-built 19-year-old utility attacker from the northern slums of São Paulo.Six months...
Pep Guardiola was right to say if there is any team that can turn the deficit around it is Madrid, but that old belief is starting to look like it may need revisingSergio Ramos walked off the pitch and, many imagined, straight out of Europe. “If there is any team, anywhere in the world that can turn this around it is Real Madrid,” Pep Guardiola said. But as the Real fans departed the Bernabéu, leaving their stadium to the Manchester City supporters singing Blue Moon high in the north-east corner, it did not feel like it.Without their captain, shown the 26th red card of his career at the end of those final 15 minutes that Zinedine Zidane said had been...
A night of noisy defiance at the Bernabéu turned to outright delirium as City emerged victorious from the belly of ‘the cartel’“We ask Manchester City’s fans to stay seated at the end of the match,” the Bernabéu PA pleaded as the minutes ticked down. Ha. Fat chance.Into the belly of the beast. And indeed, fuck Uefa too, as City’s fans insisted throughout the night from their perch in the gods. This was a glorious night for the insurgents from the east side of Manchester, as Pep Guardiola’s team went a long way towards effecting their own summary eviction from the Champions League. Related: Manchester City secure famous win at Real thanks to De Bruyne and Jesus Related: Real Madrid 1-2...
Uefa’s desire to encourage long‑term investment instead of relying on increasing debt is workingIn the days after Manchester City were found to have seriously breached Uefa’s financial fair play rules by overstating their sponsorships from Abu Dhabi companies, some of the ensuing discussion rapidly diverted from that guilty finding to questioning the merits of FFP itself. Approved by Uefa in the 2009 season after years of wondering how to drag European football from overspending on players’ wages, FFP has since transformed top division clubs’ finances overall, and was introduced by the Premier League in 2013.City’s impatient ambitions after the great fortune of the 2008 takeover by Sheikh Mansour of the Abu Dhabi ruling family were based on him bankrolling mega-spending,...