“We’ll have to try again.” The message was as simple as it was raw. Pep Guardiola’s x-ray after being knocked out in the quarter-finals of the Champions League is a Kafkaesque sum of slips. The Santpedor coach’s continental career seems to have stagnated over the years on the Barça bench. Their teams dominate, dominate with the ball and monopolize (usually) goal opportunities, but fail when penalized the most. It is what moves Manchester City away from the status of a great world team.
The English have not broken the barrier of the Champions League quarter-finals since the Guardiola era: KO in the round of 16 against Monaco in 2017 and defeats in the quarter-finals against Liverpool and Tottenham in the last two seasons (2018 and 2019 ). The project has raw material, football reading and an enviable wardrobe background. Whether plan B is David Silva, Mahrez, Bernardo Silva, Stones, Foden or Mendy is only up to one or two clubs. Resultism, however, rules the notebook.
Whoever plays the final wins the best competition in the world and, in this scenario, the chances are 50%. Guardiola does not know what it is like to reach this level without the Barça shield due to a number of circumstances that once again call into question (for political and football reasons) that the combinatorial style is the most effective way to lift the Champions League. “Another year, the same result,” said Kevin De Bruyne on the grass. Prolonging the crisis jeopardizes the credibility of this City made on the basis of petrodollars and the successes of the leaders of the sports area, key. Details and context need to be polished. If Raheem Sterling had not missed one of the clearest occasions of this edition, the reading would have been radically different.
“The farmers’ league”
French football took heart from the classification of Lyon and the possibility of living a final also with Paris Saint-Germain. It was the claim of “the farmers’ league”, as Kylian Mbappé joked on Twitter, referring to the criticism that describes the championship as a minor.
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