For a long time, Manchester City belonged to Europe’s footballing elite. But the club has been in crisis for months-and despite the expensive winter transfer, it may be facing an uncertain future.
Carlo Ancelotti got the drama for the visiting team at the press conference after the second playoff game in the Champions League between Real Madrid and Manchester City. “Without Haaland, City loses a lot of strength,” said the coach of the Madrilenen and had at least found a partial declaration for the opponent’s steady appearance. Because without the stricken Norwegian, who braised over 90 minutes on the replacement bench, the question of whether City Real could be dangerous in the fight for the round of 16 in the Estadio Santiago Bernabéu. The English were so mercilessly inferior.
In the end, a 3: 1 shone on the scoreboard of the arena for the “royal”. It would have been 4: 1, 5: 1 or 6: 1 for Real after the final whistle, the home team would not have been handled so negligently with its possibilities. Either way, it was clear: what had happened in Madrid on this Tuesday evening was the same as a demonstration of power. One who would not have been expected in this form a few months ago.
For years, Manchester City had presented itself as the most football -dominant team of top European football. Practical every opponent was hopelessly exposed to the filigree building game and the disproportionately high possession of the team of starting coaches and “mastermind” Pep Guardiola.
At the sporting Olympus, the club had given itself this approach in the summer of 2023. At that time, City had succeeded in winning the triple from the English championship, English cup and the Champions League. The star ensemble around ex-Bundesliga professional Kevin de Bruyne, Ballon-d’Or-Sieger Rodri and Toptorjäger Erling Haaland has been the worst competitor of permanent king class winner in the past two years before the season , to climb Europe’s throne again. But these times seem to be suddenly over – and obviously not simply revived with horrendous transfer editions.
First of all, it is certain: For Manchester City, the current season is one to forget after its own requirements. Four times in a row, the English championship was last won, last season the sixth in the recent seven years. But the almost invincible, which Pep Guardiola had shaped since 2016, have collapsed – in a way that could not be considered possible by anyone at the beginning of the season.
City had started the season very well, and in the league enthroned in the league in undefeated in one place. Then followed the surprising end in the round of 16 of the league cup against Tottenham Hotspur (1: 2) at the end of October and thus the beginning of the end of the years of sporty dominance.
In November, City was suddenly completely off the role, lost four competitive games in a row, including 1: 4 in the Champions League near Sporting Lisbon and 0: 4 at home in the league against Tottenham Cup. When Feyenoord Rotterdam was a guest in the premier class at the end of the month, the curse seemed to be broken, it was 3-0 for the “Skyblues” (in German: “Himmelblauen”) until the 75th minute. But the Dutch actually managed to put the result 3: 3. The next deep blow for Guardiola and his team. From the 54-year-olds, pictures went around the world that showed his visibly damaged bald head and a deep scratch in the nose. The injuries were apparently due to Guardiola’s self -flagellation during the game, born from their own despair.