Treble talk sabotages ultimate goal of Pep’s Abu Dhabi project – Irish Times

This week, for 24 hours in a row, Manchester City are undoubtedly the best club in football once again.

The think tank in Abu Dhabi and Pep Guardiola must agree; Manchester City should claim a third successive European title. Forget about capturing another Premier League title. Shelve the FA Cup. Ignore the ever-increasing high-pitched conversation.

Only one goal between now and June 10, as another defeat in the Champions League will reinforce the old adage that money can’t buy happiness.

Of course, nothing else matters. They’ve been at their best over the past three years, proving they’re unstoppable.

Of course because Chelsea beat them in the 2021 final. If Pep Guardiola and Manchester City fail to win the European Cup, Porto nights will forever haunt their UAE supporters. at least twice.

How Real Madrid beat them in last year’s semi-final – Rodrygo’s late brace, Karim Benzema’s winner – remains largely meaningless. Still, Guardiola appeared to have reacted by altering his side’s defensive formation, with John Stones moving into midfield with Rodri in a 3-2-4-1 pressure, playing four centre-back. Ruthless, relentless pressure kept Stones in control of Bayern Munich’s 3-0 defeat on Tuesday night.

City destroyed Thomas Tuchel’s Bayern, Bernardo Silva exposed Alphonso Davies on one side and Jack Grealish tormented Upamecano and Pavard on the left. The Germans have never looked more vulnerable, but this is Guardiola’s City in all their glory.

This is how a club funded by Abu Dhabi wealth should behave; a dominant team with enough talent in reserve to manage Kevin De Bruyne’s minutes.

The lethargic, fastidious Belgian midfielder we saw at the World Cup never returned from Qatar. Back in November, Pep knew his chief creator was burned out. City’s version of De Bruyne was still recovering, so when he started to shine around the hour or so on Tuesday, Julian Alvarez came off the bench.

A world-class attacker replaces a world-class midfielder.

City looked irresistible and now that Grealish has grown into a £100m player, Erling Haaland is chasing Dixie Dean’s 60 league goals in 39 games in 1927/28.

Haaland scored 45 goals in 39 games. Four points shy of Clive Allen’s epic return for Spurs in 1986/87. Some might argue that Dixie scored all the goals in the league, but Haaland’s 11 goals in seven Champions League appearances is not much of a statistic.

Something commemorative. Haaland runs as hard as any player in City’s squad. He works harder than Benzema, but does he play smarter?

Remember, Benzema won the penalty he subsequently beat Manchester City in 2022.

Celeste half Manchester are understandably reeling from the unraveling of the German establishment on Tuesday. At 3-0, they can almost advance to the semi-finals, against Real Madrid or Chelsea.

How Frank Lampard’s side kept the second leg interesting at Stamford Bridge, only to lose 2-0 at the Bernabeu, bordered on miraculous. Individual quality had a lot to do with Chelsea’s avoidance of heavy blows as N’Golo Kanté excelled in midfield and Enzo Fernandes kept Madrid honest with one last glimpse of his sensational passing range.

But Manchester City fans will shudder when they see Real Madrid, the king of European football. Now, as an offensive force, Vinicius Jr. has only Mbappe to accompany him. Luka Modric and Toni Kroos refuse to age, even though Carlo Ancelotti is managing their minutes the same way Pep managed De Bruyne. Federico Valverde was a threat, covering so much ground, while Eduardo Camavinga – the French midfielder who dominated the ball against Ireland in Dublin – was unavailable at left-back. stitching.

Of course, Alvarez could come on from the Manchester City bench, but look who Ancelotti has on the bench; Marco Asensio’s superb goal set the stage for the first leg, while Antonio Rudiger’s iconic The block prevented Mason Mount from recapturing London’s valuable goal for Chelsea. There’s even a small cameo by Aurélien Tchouaméni.

With enough investment and enough time under Pep Guardiola, City will beat Real Madrid to their first Champions League title. But to achieve that this season, Haaland may need to beat Dean’s record. Unless Lampard’s Chelsea do them a huge favor this week.

Seriously though, Guardiola has transformed the Manchester City team and looking forward to what’s to come. Madrid under Carlo Ancelotti was a steely defensive force, commanded by Eder Militao, which seemed to force Pep into the hand.

Napoli lost their other quarter-final match against Milan this week, but Victor Osimhen will return from injury for the second leg. Bayern and several Premier League clubs want the young Nigerian striker, who can send the runaway Serie A leaders to the European decider. Or, if Pep’s City succeed, one of the Milanese will be waiting.

When the final does come, City and Pep Guardiola could find themselves in United territory under Alex Ferguson. Arsenal will have to avoid defeat at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to emerge from a tight title race. Furthermore, City are all but certain to play Manchester United (or Evan Ferguson’s Brighton) in the FA Cup final seven days from the Champions League tie-breaker in Istanbul.

That’s why their European dream was shattered.

Predicting the run-in of any season is dangerous and almost irresponsible for any self-respecting football columnist.But City could be three victories – away at Brentford, Wembley and Manchester United [Italian side] In Istanbul – from taking Pep’s Abu Dhabi project to the top.

At this stage, I think Sheikh Mansour will give up the British domestic double for the top prize. That looked certain on Tuesday night, but 24 hours later Real Madrid reminded everyone that Barcelona were 13 points clear of La Liga, so all they had to do was play their 15th European Cup.