The Premier League title may be lost to Manchester City, but it could be a season in which none of England’s big six clubs really get what they want.
Winning the league is no victory to be taken lightly, but after last year’s heroics in winning the treble, City are setting the bar even higher for themselves. They were unable to aim for the league title again as they were unable to get past the best teams they faced this season, with both games ending in draws. liverpool, Obtained 1 point from 2 matches against arsenal, Share the spoils at home after losing to Aston Villa Tottenham.
Manchester City’s lack of sixth gear is once again costly
The lack of a sixth gear also led to City’s withdrawal from the Champions League. They had Real Madrid on the ropes for at least 90 of the 120 minutes of a long and grueling match at the Etihad Stadium, but were unable to land the knockout punch they needed.
For the first 30 minutes, the match settled into a familiar pattern. Manchester City played with 10 men forward and Real Madrid matched with 10 men behind the ball, but they were always coiled up and ready to pounce forward when the opportunity presented itself.
The opening goal was exactly what they wanted, with Jude Bellingham controlling a promising long ball to Federico Valverde, who evaded Rodri’s caution. From there, a simple ball to Vinicius Junior followed by a quick cross, but Ederson could only parry Rodrygo’s first shot straight into the goal.
City needed a goal to stay in the competition, and some may have expected the game to continue like this. For about 15 minutes after the goal, Real Madrid kept trying to repeat that, but the final ball was unable to cut through City’s defense again.
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And they just…stopped. The 10 behind the ball became a stubborn 11, and when City had the ball in the final third they were rarely played wider than the width of the penalty area.
Erling Haaland hit one superb header over the bar, then another, but Bernardo Silva was only able to react quickly enough to let it ricochet off the side of the post. Kevin De Bruyne came closer and closer from long range, but without success. Jack Grealish continued to threaten to force the issue without actually getting his job done.
By the one-hour mark, Real Madrid looked completely exhausted. They were no longer keen on counter-attacking, but they felt completely unable to do so, worn down physically and mentally by Manchester City’s relentless passing machine. However, their lead remained intact.
Jeremy Doku’s influence won’t be enough for Manchester City to surpass Real Madrid
If the penalty shootout had gone the other way, if Real hadn’t proved so resilient at the back, this would have been a Jeremy Doku story. One well-oiled machine was countered by another well-oiled machine of a different kind. It looked more like Atlético Madrid than Real Madrid.
Doc is the least talented of all Manchester City’s players. Despite playing just under half of his Premier League minutes this season, the winger has been solely responsible for a quarter of all dribbles that have led directly to shots on goal.
Where the robot’s constant repetition failed, Doc’s chaotic elements succeeded in disrupting Real Madrid’s defense.
Even just four minutes after coming on from the bench, he played a key role in equalizing Manchester City’s performance, attacking Dani Carvajal and setting up Manuel Akanji’s goal-line goal. It was no surprise that he did so. A cutback against De Bruyne gave the Belgian a simple but well-placed finish. It was already clear that Real Madrid’s best chance of winning was to somehow take the game to penalties.
As is often the case, extra-time ended without any major incident, but Antonio Rudiger nearly broke up the play with a close-range shot from the second phase of a set-piece towards the end of the first period.
However, Rudiger made no mistake with his 10th and final spot-kick of the match, as Bernardo Silva and Mateo Kovacic denied Luka Modric, who took Real’s first penalty, for the sheer rottenness of their efforts. Andriy Lunin’s task was too easy in converting after winning the lead. He was under pressure from an expectant home crowd.
This means City will be playing for the Premier League and FA Cup trophies. Liverpool have already won the League Cup, but at the moment it looks like they won’t be able to win more. Arsenal have been knocked out of the Champions League and FA Cup and will need to overtake City again to win the title. In the Premier League as well, there is a strong possibility that they will not be able to achieve their long-awaited 5th place in the Champions League. Bad news for Aston Villa and Tottenham.
Of course, this is what we want as a neutral. That means the silverware is shared. But for those at the top end of the Premier League…no one is laughing at the moment.
