Real-City

[DCWat]

City have enjoyed the better of both legs, and scored 5 goals over the tie, however yet again their undoing if they crash out is their defending.

They should have put the tie to bed last week, and somehow contrived to throw an almost certain final place away in the dying minutes tonight.

And fair or not if they don't even make the final it could be argued they're going backwards on the European stage.

Their defending doesn’t help - Real defended like for their lives after getting their noses in front. Had they converted the numerous chances they’d had, the defending wouldn’t have been so much of an issue. It’s a striker they’re missing for me.

[Boss Hogg]

Not often you see Msn City looking gutted and defeated. Didn’t think there was a goal in Real tonight. Real v Liverpool will make for a great final.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

Apparently it's RM's 17th final in the Champions League/European Cup.

13 wins so far in the previous 16 finals...that's some going

[CrosspoolClarets]

Some sides tend to win at certain moments, others don’t. City are not yet that kind of legendary club who wins these games at will. Madrid are. As are Liverpool.

Wouldn’t file them away as bottle jobs like PSG though. A tad harsh.

[thelaughingclaret]

Peps tactics cost them the Champions league last season and it has cost them again this season.
Seems to always bottle the big games. Tonight he thought they had won when it was far from over.

[tiger76]

Not just match it...

Yep! the final will have to go some to beat both semi's for drama, but with the players Liverpool and Real possess there's every chance of it being a classic.

[ElectroClaret]

Dyche to Citeh?

[KRBFC]

I don't think Ederson made a save in the 90 minutes, then bang bang it's tie on. Grealish has to score 1 of those chances.

[RVclaret]

Dyche to Citeh?

Imagine going from Pep ball to Dyche ball. City fans would require counselling.

[Bordeauxclaret]

City fans will get over when the 4th goes in against Fulham next season.

[Sproggy]

Imagine going from Pep ball to Dyche ball. City fans would require counselling.

To be fair, they'd resorted to hoofball by the end.

Great result.

[Ashingtonclaret46]

Read laws of the game? Sorry why? I can use my eyes and see how inconsistent he’s been. Some of the ridiculous fouls he’s given completely wrong and I won’t get started on the yellows.

You also need to watch with the commentary turned off so that you do not have to listen to the inane ramblings of pundits who consistently prove that they do not know TLOG. I have no idea what they have siad tonight, I have used my eyes and, along with a lot more of the international refereeing community, the faults were not with the officials.
Players considtently try to cheat and they did not get away with it tonight, unlike many games in the PL.
You thought different, fair enough, I see it every week on the Rate the Referee board, there are very few assessments given without any bias at all.

[Spijed]

Imagine going from Pep ball to Dyche ball. City fans would require counselling.

I doubt they'd care about style if they won the CL regardless of who was in charge.

[Wile E Coyote]

confidence sapping loss, liverpool will take the league now and probably champs league final.
Continual european disappointment at the etihad despite peps past glories elsewhere.

[Boss Hogg]

Hopefully someone will get rid of Steve McManaman for the final. Unbearable tonight. He could be worse with Liverpool playing.

[KRBFC]

You also need to watch with the commentary turned off so that you do not have to listen to the inane ramblings of pundits who consistently prove that they do not know TLOG. I have no idea what they have siad tonight, I have used my eyes and, along with a lot more of the international refereeing community, the faults were not with the officials.
Players considtently try to cheat and they did not get away with it tonight, unlike many games in the PL.
You thought different, fair enough, I see it every week on the Rate the Referee board, there are very few assessments given without any bias at all.

He booked Sterling for a perfect challenge, constantly let the Madrid players con him. The Kroos free kick in the first half was a clear Vinicius nutmeg then dive, 2 minutes later up the other end he let Modric kick then push Foden in the back and gave nothing. That Brazilian CB Militao went down 3 times with cramp in ET, 3 minutes added? and he even blew before MINIMUM 3 minutes were played.

[Vegas Claret]

would have been different if the ref did his job. Casemiro shouldn't have seen out the first half

[tiger76]

Their defending doesn’t help - Real defended like for their lives after getting their noses in front. Had they converted the numerous chances they’d had, the defending wouldn’t have been so much of an issue. It’s a striker they’re missing for me.

In the PL it's not an issue because they'll generally dominate games, but in the latter stages of the CL, when usually the games are tight, their lack of a clinical edge is probing costly, tonight RM had only 5 efforts on target, but bagged 3, and yes once they got in front they showed exactly how you see a game out, might not have been pretty in ET, but Real won't care a jot as they're in the final.

But even taking away all City's missed chances, they still had one foot in the final before a crazy couple of minutes, and once again their big game mentality will come under scrutiny,

Take Liverpool for example would they have gifted Real those 2 late goals, I somehow doubt it, but you have to doff your cap to this RM outfit, against Chelsea they were minutes from elimination, and found a way to win through, and ditto tonight, that's a mark of a winning club. love them or loathe them, and I'm not particularly a fan of there's.

[jedi_master]

I’ll get pelters for my opinion here, but hey, why not!

I think you could put Neil Warnock in charge of Man City and they’d win the League or domestic cups every season/1 in 2 seasons. Their budget is without equal. He has signed many great players, but some of them have gone backwards under him (Grealish is a case in point at £100m, he has struggled to fit into this team and was poor again tonight). Their style of play is beautiful, in patches, but it has not got the devastating panache, penetration and direct brute force of Liverpool, which is why they are a better side in my opinion.

Klopp is an arse, but I also think their transfer strategy is so much more impressive. He rarely seeks the ‘big name’, signing players for lesser figures and improving them immeasurably (Salah £34m, Mane £32m, Diaz £35m looks a snip etc). When he has spent big, he’s got it right (Alisson, Van Dijk) and spent it on the key areas of weakness in his team. I’m not trying to make it a ‘Klopp v Pep’ debate, but just how I see it when discussing the best two teams in our league.

Europe for me is where the real tactical nous is on display, against the best of the best in this competition Guardiola has been found wanting once again. I’m afraid it’s one thing being a flat track bully and putting 4, 5 or 6 in against Burnley and Norwich, it’s quite another in the Champions League.

[arise_sir_charge]

I thought the referee was bloody awful and completely lost the plot in injury time.

As said above Cassimero should have walked early in the game.

[dsr]

The two commentators were definitely the worst performers of the game. I wonder if they will look back on the last few minutes of normal time and the first few of extra time and realise how cringingly bad they were? Probably not, they probably think they did a good job of telling people what an exciting game it was, and how good it was that they were there because no-one would have known it was exciting if they hadn't been told so 40 times in 5 minutes.

I thought it was a bit odd that they continually said that there had never been a finish like this in a comparable game, and no-one in production told them to put a sock in it. Can they see literally no comparison with the Bayern v Man U final when Man U got pasted but scored twice in injury time to win 1-0? It doesn't sound even vaguely familiar?

[GodIsADeeJay81]

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[KRBFC]

City had neither Cancelo or Walker fit for the first leg, then Stones (who was playing right back) went off at half time in the first leg. Walker went off injured tonight and it cost them imo.

[KRBFC]

c63a2a11-1e73-493a-a0b0-94dffc75490a.jpeg

So Fulham and West Brom rank above Liverpool and Man City? even though both went down....

[GodIsADeeJay81]

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[Vegas Claret]

Jesus you're stupid, congrats.

I doubt anyone bothered reading your message after the above. You really don't help yourself sometimes, you often make good points but try making them without abusing people....

[JohnDearyMe]

Absolutely heartbroken for Pep - just when will these billionaires catch a break?!

[Bordeauxclaret]

Stolen from Twitter -

Of Guardiola's 11 Champions League eliminations, EIGHT have seen decisive periods that were sudden collapses/flurries of goals conceded

2010 - 2 in 13 minutes
2014 - 3 in 18
2015 - 3 in 17
2017 - 2 in 8
2018- 3 in 19
2019- 2 in 3
2020- 2 in 8
2022- 3 in 6

[jedi_master]

What an utterly ridiculous comment and such a lack of any kind of football knowledge. Neil Warnock. You people actually believe Sean Dyche would do a better job than Pep Guardiola. I genuinely sympathise.

Firstly - nobody mentioned Sean Dyche except you!

Secondly - I thought it quite clear that using Neil ******* Warnock’s name would be a clear show of facetiousness, maybe not though…

To say it in a manner that might not be as controversially worded - if Roberto Mancini or Manuel Pellegrini had remained in charge, I believe they would have achieved exactly the same, roughly, as Pep Guardiola has done domestically.

When you’re Manchester City, what is defined as success, and what is defined as failure? I think Guardiola is sat somewhere in the middle if you’re a billionaire funding this. That’s my opinion!

KRBFC: No need for ‘stupid’, I’ll take any rejection of an opinion, I reject plenty on here myself but I would never be rude or aggressive to another. Indeed, as I prefaced my post with - I fully expected to get pelters, but no need for that.

[RVclaret]

Firstly - nobody mentioned Sean Dyche except you!

Secondly - I thought it quite clear that using Neil ******* Warnock’s name would be a clear show of facetiousness, maybe not though…

To say it in a manner that might not be as controversially worded - if Roberto Mancini or Manuel Pellegrini had remained in charge, I believe they would have achieved exactly the same, roughly, as Pep Guardiola has done domestically.

When you’re Manchester City, what is defined as success, and what is defined as failure? I think Guardiola is sat somewhere in the middle if you’re a billionaire funding this. That’s my opinion!

KRBFC: No need for ‘stupid’, I’ll take any rejection of an opinion, I reject plenty on here myself but I would never be rude or aggressive to another. Indeed, as I prefaced my post with - I fully expected to get pelters, but no need for that.

Pellegrini and Mancini won one PL and peaked. Mancini ragged a title with the Aguero moment. Their teams played s**** football and their squad building left City with a team of OAPS in 4th place by the time Pep came in. It’s quite clear City’s domestic consistency and dominance since Pep came in is an incredible achievement in itself. You do realise Manchester United have spent MORE money than City during the same period? If spending money guarantees success why are United at their lowest point in decades? Oh and Chelsea have spent almost the same amount during the same time.

Liverpool have had the easiest run to a CL final possible here. City had the two Madrid teams, including a semi return leg at the Bernabeu. The beauty and magic of football is that anything can happen. City dominated the first leg and should have scored 8, but didn’t. They limited Madrid to hardly anything for 89 minutes last night and scored a quality goal, then should have wrapped it up. Madrid, as they did against PSG in the last round, find moments of magic from elite players and then know how to con refs. City’s players bottled it, not the manager.

[Lancasterclaret]

City did everything right, but that 2nd Real goal was unreal

The chances of it deflecting of the head of the first striker to land perfectly on the head of the 2nd striker to put it right under the bar are incredible

And then Diaz makes a stupid challenge, and its all over

Good fun to watch though

[BurnleyFC]

I thought Man City by their standards were poor last night, especially first half.

[jedi_master]

Pellegrini and Mancini won one PL and peaked. Mancini ragged a title with the Aguero moment. Their teams played s**** football and their squad building left City with a team of OAPS in 4th place by the time Pep came in. It’s quite clear City’s domestic consistency and dominance since Pep came in is an incredible achievement in itself. You do realise Manchester United have spent MORE money than City during the same period? If spending money guarantees success why are United at their lowest point in decades? Oh and Chelsea have spent almost the same amount during the same time.

Liverpool have had the easiest run to a CL final possible here. City had the two Madrid teams, including a semi return leg at the Bernabeu. The beauty and magic of football is that anything can happen. City dominated the first leg and should have scored 8, but didn’t. They limited Madrid to hardly anything for 89 minutes last night and scored a quality goal, then should have wrapped it up. Madrid, as they did against PSG in the last round, find moments of magic from elite players and then know how to con refs. City’s players bottled it, not the manager.

Man City squad and age when Mancini left:

Hart: 24
Zabaleta: 27
Clichy: 27
Kompany: 26
Toure: 29
Silva: 26
Nasri: 25
Barry: 31
Tevez: 27
Aguero: 24
Dzeko: 26
Milner: 26
Lescott: 30
Kolarov: 27
Kolo Toure: 31
Balotelli: 22
Richards: 24

Man City squad age when Pellegrini left:

Hart: 28
Sagna: 32
Kolarov: 30
Otamendi: 27
Mangala: 24
Fernandinho: 30
Toure: 32
De Bruyne: 24
Aguero: 27
Navas: 30
Sterling: 21
Silva: 29
Bony: 27
Demichelis: 35
Clichy: 30
Zabaleta: 30
Kompany: 29
Delph: 26
Nasri: 28

Whilst it’s clear Pellegrini’s squad was coming to the end of its cycle/aging players - I’m sure he would have been replacing some of the older heads if he was given opportunity to do so. So many of these players from both managers would go on to form the backbone of Guardiolas sides too.

Style of football is another thing altogether though, I’m talking of demonstrable success. Style of football is both subjective, and largely irrelevant in history books. I also can’t recall ever watching Mancini’s City side and thinking “Wow, these are crap to watch”, but time has passed. Guardiola has retained the title, which is his biggest ‘win’ against the prior two but I’m sure that the owners would expect more than just a continuation of the same sort of success they have had under Mancini and Pellegrini. In fact, I’m not sure to be honest - which is why I ask the question of ‘What do Man City regard as success, and what do they regard as failure’?

[Rileybobs]

Is it just me who finds it utterly cringeworthy when fans of other clubs refer to Guardiola as Pep?

[GodIsADeeJay81]

We are ambitious for the club, like you, but not unreasonably so and we understand it takes time to build a team capable of sustaining a presence in the top four of the Premier League and winning European honours.

Quote from Sheikh Mansour after he took over City.

The club has achieved the first expectation and it just took 4yrs from his takeover to first PL title and they haven't finished outside the top 4 since the end of the 2010 season.

Since 2017/18 season in the CL the lowest stage they've been knocked out is the 1/4 finals.

Pep took the from last 16 finishes to the next stage up but now he really needs to win the CL, that's the big prize and until then they'll just be nearly rans.

Someone said on the radio recently that until City win the CL, they can't be classed as a European giant in football, which I thought was an interesting comment.

[Quicknick]

Great result. I hope Real beat Liverpool, too.

[tiger76]

Quote from Sheikh Mansour after he took over City.

The club has achieved the first expectation and it just took 4yrs from his takeover to first PL title and they haven't finished outside the top 4 since the end of the 2010 season.

Since 2017/18 season in the CL the lowest stage they've been knocked out is the 1/4 finals.

Pep took the from last 16 finishes to the next stage up but now he really needs to win the CL, that's the big prize and until then they'll just be nearly rans.

Someone said on the radio recently that until City win the CL, they can't be classed as a European giant in football, which I thought was an interesting comment.

With the backing City have had over the past 15 years they should have lifted at least 1 CL by now, in the same period, Chelsea have won 2, Liverpool have reached the final 3 times in 5 seasons, winning it in 2019, City rank alongside PSG as spending fortunes and achieving little of note for all that outlay.

City may well win the PL again, but let's be honest who cares, they'll be judged on CL triumphs in my view, and currently they have the grand total of zero.

[Spijed]

Can someone explain why Guardiola is regarded as a football genius yet Klopp isn't?

[NottsClaret]

From being a bit of a liability a few years ago, City don't look half as composed without Stones at the back now. Great entertainment last night, Madrid just don't know when they're beaten.

There was a bit with about 7 minutes left and they're two goals down and about to go out.. and three Madrid players just play a bit of keep ball in their own half without a care in the world, no rush.. no urgency. As if they knew 7 minutes was plenty of time to turn it round.

[Lancasterclaret]

Can someone explain why Guardiola is regarded as a football genius yet Klopp isn't?

No one sane thinks they aren't both football geniuses

Its like the Ronaldo/Messi thing, we should just be glad that both are managing in our league and we can watch the two amazing teams they have (as long as they don't play Burnley more than twice a season of course)

[RVclaret]

Can someone explain why Guardiola is regarded as a football genius yet Klopp isn't?

Who thinks Klopp isn't? Both elite tier managers.

[Spijed]

Who thinks Klopp isn't? Both elite tier managers.

Difference is some say Guardiola's style of play has changed football in this country yet the same credit doesn't seem to be given to Klopp in how he manages Liverpool.

[tiger76]

From being a bit of a liability a few years ago, City don't look half as composed without Stones at the back now. Great entertainment last night, Madrid just don't know when they're beaten.

There was a bit with about 7 minutes left and they're two goals down and about to go out.. and three Madrid players just play a bit of keep ball in their own half without a care in the world, no rush.. no urgency. As if they knew 7 minutes was plenty of time to turn it round.

Turns out Madrid were correct 7 minutes was plenty of time to turn the tie on it's head.

[ecc]

Is it just me who finds it utterly cringeworthy when fans of other clubs refer to Guardiola as Pep?

No, Rileybobs. You are most definitely not alone. The media start it and then certain fans follow.

[ClaretTony]

Can someone explain why Guardiola is regarded as a football genius yet Klopp isn't?

I don't think I've heard that. Klopp gets all the plaudits he deserves. He might be a bit of an arse where we are concerned but he's done an incredible job at Liverpool and is rightly praised for it.

[bfcjg]

Can someone explain why Guardiola is regarded as a football genius yet Klopp isn't?

I think cosmetic dentists slag him off as he brings their profession into dispute.

[Quickenthetempo]

Difference is some say Guardiola's style of play has changed football in this country yet the same credit doesn't seem to be given to Klopp in how he manages Liverpool.

Klopp is doing great and put a very good side together, but I don't think he has brought anything new to the game over here.
My school team in 1990 were playing 433 direct to two fast winger/forwards.
The midfield 3 were spread out a bit more than Liverpool's, which didn't help my lack of pace.

The pressing game used to be called hunting in packs by Stan or Everton had dogs of war.

[CFS]

Can someone explain why Guardiola is regarded as a football genius yet Klopp isn't?

You don't get remembered for finishing 2nd.

[GodIsADeeJay81]

You don't get remembered for finishing 2nd.

Sounds like the story of Peps life in the CL since he left Barca.

[arise_sir_charge]

Is this not just another example of Spijed being Spijed and the things he thinks being far removed from reality?