Pep Guardiola can make another little piece of history on Sunday by overtaking Jose Mourinho and Arsène Wenger to go 2nd on the all-time list of Premier League winning managers.
28.04.2022 - 12:41 / manchestereveningnews.co.uk
Even the most glass-half-empty supporter would be hard pressed to come up with a Manchester City performance better than what we saw against Real Madrid on Tuesday night.
City were immense for practically the whole 90 minutes under the Etihad Stadium lights, creating chance after chance after chance as they sliced through the 13-time European champions. City were putting a footballing giant to the sword, showing the world just how good they are.
Pep Guardiola's side scored four goals - two inside the opening 11 minutes - courtesy of Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva. They could and should have scored five, six, maybe even seven - and that's where the nagging feeling of regret kicks in.
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They didn't score those extra goals, letting Real Madrid off the hook, and the wily old foxes of European football took full advantage. City could have booked their place in the final after only a quarter of the two-legged semi-final, but the reality is that they will head to the Santiago Bernabeu next week with a 4-3 lead. They have the goal advantage, but Madrid have belief.
This isn't a case of City 'bottling' another Champions League game, or of Guardiola overthinking things. Letting teams off the hook has been a key theme of City's season, the one bad habit they just cannot seem to shake no matter how brilliantly they perform.
It happened in both 2-2 draws with Liverpool, the most recent of the two prompting Guardiola to reach the conclusion that City had "left them alive." Had City taken more of the myriad of chances that they produced in the first halves of both games, then they would be four points
Pep Guardiola can make another little piece of history on Sunday by overtaking Jose Mourinho and Arsène Wenger to go 2nd on the all-time list of Premier League winning managers.
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