that peak Pep Guardiola He’s building this club and it’s a long standing point in European football. Manchester City hasn’t won yet Champions League or treble, but they took the hardest fight to eliminate the defending champions, and they did so with a 4-0 win that was beyond easy.
The first half hour was perhaps Guardiola’s best football spell in Europe and perhaps the best ever by an English club on this stage. The departure of City, who made it to the stage for the second time, and finally lifting the trophy in Istanbul will definitely be seen as a statement performance. real MadridAll clubs were humiliated. The whole game is behind after City. Internazionale will need something close to a miracle to beat them, such is City’s level. This is why so many people refer to it as the true finale. City reached Istanbul without much struggle. In the last four months they’ve only been behind in matches – in any competition – three times.
This never seemed like one of them. From the start of the match, City came out with brutal determination to make sure they couldn’t repeat last season’s eliminations. It was a storm. The way they arrived in Madrid, and the way Thibaut Courtois initially performed his own miracles to stop them, briefly made it seem like another one of those nights was going to happen.
City came in with such power that they completely ruined it. Instead it turned out to be one of the club’s great nights.
It wasn’t all about this power, however irresistible it was. The game was ultimately interrupted and effectively decided by Kevin De Bruyne’s most remarkable finesse. After an opening period where City tried to beat Madrid with their crosses against Haaland, the Belgian then played the most spectacular back pass and just to put berdo silva into space to pass the ball past Courtois. The goalkeeper had no chance this time.
Bernardo Silva inspired as he scored two goals in the first half
(AFP via Getty Images)
It was the least Bernardo deserved for his recent performances, and he soon got more. Again, Madrid was crushed under pressure. Bernardo went home. After just 37 minutes, that was all, but it felt like it was over long before that. Eder Militao’s own goal in the 76th minute only added insults to the penalty for Madrid as City passed around and through them. Julian Alvarez then comprehensively wrapped up a convincing victory to turn it into a humiliation.
Perhaps this was the long-awaited defeat for Madrid. It would always be City that exposed them to it.
The fans were happily playing “Poznan” because their players were enjoying possession as Guardiola demanded; this dance reminds of the old times when the club started this journey as part of this project, but still not on stages as glorious as the others. Champions League final.
He was cheerful.
This should also provoke more complex discussions that few people really enjoy having while enjoying shows like this.
Any discussion of the best British performances ever in Europe needs to be contextualized, such as the fact that this is an Abu Dhabi state project that has also become the most generous sporting project ever seen.
Therefore, this incredible level of superiority was as inevitable as City’s goal in the early stages. Even the randomness of cup football can’t stand it forever. Guardiola has managed to achieve a point of excellence from perfect conditions and an infrastructure built almost to him.
Pep Guardiola has achieved levels of excellence in an environment built for and for himself.
(Reuters)
This is very clever planning. This is obvious and something few other clubs can afford because they don’t have the support at the time.
It also explains modern football at the time. The story of the modern game is actually that about 15 years ago, a group of autocratic states, motivated by fierce regional rivalry, looked to football and saw it as a vigorous new area of expansion. This has similarly led to long-term deterioration, with the sport’s embrace of Western capitalism.
Is this good for sports?
No one can deny that it’s good to watch, although it’s often on a level that goes beyond the sport as a competition. This was definitely an example of that. It was never a competition.
European champions were humiliated. The new European champions are about to be crowned.
It’s all part of the show. It is also part of broader political ambitions that raise questions about sports washing and human rights records. it has context These accusations brought by the Premier LeagueAnd if the Court of Arbitration for Sport had not overturned Uefa’s sentence in 2020, what would this return to the Champions League final have been like for the club’s return to Europe?
None of this should be seen as sympathy for Madrid. They have been one of the most responsible factors in making the football landscape look that way. The game has been disproportionately affected by their demands for too long. The world he has created has just come out of their control, and they are now greatly brutalized by it.
City’s rise continues this process. For the past 40 years, football has staggered and stretched more and more financially, with the top-end getting tighter and tighter. Every few years, fewer clubs may win. State ownership has taken this to new extremes.
Guardiola took this city to extremes. Now another treble awaits you, but this is the most triumphant of them all.
The city is not there yet. However, like so many other things in the game right now, this one feels inevitable.
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