Manchester City are out of the Champions League before the round-of-16 after a play-off beating by Real Madrid.
The defining image of Manchester City’s dismal Champions League campaign has a few strong contenders.
City players slumped to the floor after collapsing against Feyenoord. Arms raised in frustration after collapsing against Sporting Lisbon. Heads dropped after collapsing at Juventus. The familiar sight of PSG players celebrating following another collapse. Then quickfire collapses against Real Madrid.
A pattern is quickly emerging, but perhaps most appropriate as an image to sum up the Champions League exit this term was the smoke bellowing from a merchandise booth outside the Etihad Stadium to disrupt City’s arrival for the must-win clash vs Club Brugge.
City’s European hopes didn’t go up in flames that night, but victory only prolonged the agony and they were dealt a schooling by Real Madrid this week. It summed up the feeling that everything that could go wrong for City, did go wrong. Often at the worst-possible time.
Maybe, then, the image to best sum up the Champions League disaster was Rodri – first in that awful Oasis kit in his only 90 minutes of the season came against Inter Milan, and then on a banner before Real Madrid to remind both City and their visitors of the hole he has left in midfield.
It wasn’t just Rodri, though – the list of injured players to miss crucial Champions League games is a long and significant one. Erling Haaland has missed just one Champions League or Premier League game this season – the second leg at Real Madrid. Kevin De Bruyne was absent for long stretches, too, limited to substitute appearances in games City had long lost. John Stones missed four games, essentially five after limping off this week, Manu Akanji missed two, Mateo Kovacic and Jack Grealish four each.
Seven points from the first three games had City well placed, even if Sparta Prague and Slovan Bratislava were not elite opponents and managed just one win between them in 16 combined games. Yet City would get just four points from their next five games, including three defeats.
Each of those – 4-1 at Sporting, 2-0 at Juventus, and 4-2 at PSG – were littered with mistakes, collapses and key absentees. Sporting ruthlessly picked on academy defender Jahmai Simpson-Pusey and the wide-open spaces in front of him, while Juventus were desperately out of form themselves and PSG also struggled in the competition. But all three were given free reign of the City midfield and took full advantage.
What could have been if they had seen the game out.
Guardiola denied that City had a mentality problem in Turin, but Bernardo Silva had spoken of a ‘dark place’ in the dressing room around the same time. Ruben Dias vowed that the tough run would make his side stronger yet they kept making the same mistakes, himself included.
Looking over the ten games and there was almost certainly a confidence issue surging through the makeshift line-ups.
Savinho can be considered a rare positive from this campaign after his heroics against Club Brugge, as can the sight of Nico Gonzalez scoring late at the Bernabeu after a promising home debut. Simpson-Pusey and Abdukodir Khusanov struggled in Lisbon and Madrid but will be stronger for their experiences, while Rico Lewis and Matheus Nunes showed glimpses towards the start of the League Phase. James McAtee didn’t disgrace himself, either.
But these are all fringe players and youngsters who can hold their heads high. Aside from Erling Haaland (eight goals) and Phil Foden (three goals, two assists), did anyone else stand up and take control of any game?
A look at the defence sums up City’s inconsistency, and perhaps their tendency to collapse with quick goals following another. In each of their ten games in the Champions League, Guardiola was forced to name a different back four, with ten players used in defensive positions.
There were four different right-backs used, seven different centre-back pairings, and three different left-backs selected. No player featured in every game, and experienced midfielders such as Kevin De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva failed to register a goal or assist.
Guardiola said the nightmare start at Real Madrid – Erling Haaland ruled out, Dias making an early mistake, Kylian Mbappe pubishing them – was a microcosm of their bad luck this season.
But how long can you rely on bad luck before looking at bad defending, or slow, ponderous attacking. City had nine games in Europe to find a solution without Rodri and never found it. It shouldn’t take an injury to Haaland to render their attack toothless, even at the Bernabeu.