Barcelona“If we score a goal, people will help us score the rest.” These were the words of Pep Guardiola at the break, minutes before Manchester City culminated their comeback against Aston Villa and lifted their fourth Premier League in five years, the tenth league for Santpedor. Guardiola is already the third coach with the most titles in history. Year after year he set new records with City and the dominance imposed on the most competitive league on the planet has naturalized. The clash with Liverpool has shattered the story that there are only winners and losers. The teams of Guardiola and Jürgen Klopp have given the world of football a rivalry that marks the pages of the history of the Premier.
Football travels so fast that it’s hard to take perspective with what you achieve. “Success relaxes and deceives, it makes us worse. It helps us fall in love with ourselves. Failure, on the other hand, is just the opposite: it is formative, it brings us closer to convictions and makes us consistent,” he said. once Marcelo Bielsa, former Leeds United coach. Guardiola, who has always made clear his admiration for the Argentine coach, has often relativized victories and defeats. He was the first to find out what mistakes he missed in last year’s Champions League final against Chelsea and why Real Madrid bounced back from the Bernabeu. Embracing eternity or just stroking it, both in the way of winning and dying, is always true to some ideas. Its goal is always the same: to pursue excellence.
And so culminated the comeback against Aston Villa of Steven Gerrard, Liverpool legend and now coach of Birmingham, and Philippe Coutinho, who scored the second visiting goal at the Etihad. Football is unpredictable, but there are times when what happens is simply inevitable. The emotional weight of a goal is often impossible to bear: there are ups and downs to come. City got it out of conviction. “These guys are a legend. People have to admit it: they will be absolutely eternal in this club,” Guardiola admitted at the end of the match.
The first message from Catalan was for Liverpool. “I’ve never had a rival as tough as them. They’ve helped us get better every season,” he said as Etihad went mad. Just fifty miles away, Liverpool claimed the honor of the runner-up. Those of Klopp, that got to be to 14 points of citizen, they reached the final day being a goal away from the title for a few minutes. Since Guardiola landed in Manchester, City and Liverpool have scored 536 and 508 points respectively. From 2018-19, when the rivalry between skyblues i redsCity have scored 358 points, while Klopp ‘s have accumulated 357. “You can’t ask for more than that, and that’s what the boys have done. We’ve been chasing the best team in the world to the end. I’m very proud of it, it’s been an exceptional season, “Klopp said after congratulating the champion.
The challenges that come
“Pedro, Leo Messi and David Villa secured us a hundred goals. And a hundred goals is the equivalent of winning the league,” said Manchester City. The skyblue they have been ready: they have turned 99; no team in the five major European leagues has scored as many. Guardiola has made the goal a collective issue. The top scorer was Kevin De Bruyne (15), named Premier League player this season. And his teammate Phil Foden, the best young footballer. From the Etihad Stadium indicate that not having one we leads City to have to invent different paths to the opposing goal. Next season will be very different with the addition of Erling Haaland.
The signing of the Norwegian is the last card that City could bet on to continue growing. In football, they have touched the sky: only the figure of one we it allows them to evolve a game that is already excellent. With Haaland, Guardiola wins a resource that brings him even closer to the Champions League. Europe does not always give up the throne to the best, although the closest thing the Catalan coach’s teams have come to is when they have dominated the state championships. The thermometer is always the league and Guardiola has won ten of the thirteen he has played: only Alex Ferguson and Mircea Lucescu have more titles than the Catalan.
“I called Madrid and they advised me well,” Guardiola joked at the end of the match. In the background, in the middle of the celebration, it sounded Don’t look back in anger of Oasis. No reproach, just pride in raising the fourth Premier League. And next season, an even better squad for the world’s most dominant team.
