RReal Madrid are European champions, but in that first half at the Etihad on Wednesday, they were overrated to an almost incomprehensible degree. Every Manchester City outfielder, Ruben Diaz, had a chance; Madrid managed a total of one. So embarrassing was the ferocity of City’s press that Madrid made just 13 passes in the first 15 minutes. It was 2-0 at half-time, and it could have been five. City played with such pace and precision – against a European giant – that the only appropriate response was awe.
Yet in mid-January, when City lost to Manchester United at Old Trafford, it seemed reasonable to assume that this was not one of Pep Guardiola’s better sides, that with United’s rise City could no longer accept the upper hand for granted in Manchester. Four months on, with only United and Internazionale standing between City and the second treble in English football history – 10th across Europe – such predictions seem a little silly.
But they were valid at the time. City have just dropped points at home to Frank Lampard’s Everton. They were out of the Carabao Cup in a Southampton team managed by Nathan Jones, a Quadruple Denier. The following Thursday, City were 2-0 down to Tottenham at half-time before coming back to win 4-2. For all their firepower, there was an unknown defensive vulnerability in them. That second-half comeback meant that midway through the season, City had 42 points after scoring 50 and conceding 20, en route to their third-best goalscoring haul under Guardiola, but their second-worst points total and the worst goals against record.
The reason wasn’t hard to figure out. Guardiola, determined to counter the counter, has always prioritized control, but Erling Haaland thrives on balls played quickly forward. After going more direct to make the most of their pace, City became more open. Getting the balance right proved difficult. Already in the Community Shield, when he touched the ball just 16 times, it was clear that Haaland was making dangerous runs that were not being used.
At Old Trafford, Haaland touched the ball just 19 times; in City’s 2-0 win in the equivalent fixture the previous season, the fewest touches registered by their players was Ilkay Gundogan with 66. How could you control a match in the way Guardiola wishes if one player’s direct involvement in maintaining possession is so limited? This seemed a significant incompatibility.
But you don’t have to be Harry Lime in The Third Man to believe that friction can be creative. Lionel Messi never quite suited Guardiola’s system at Barcelona, always resenting the demands it imposed and yet was the most important player in one of the greatest teams of all time.
Haaland, similarly, is a grain of sand in the oyster. He is that lethal finisher that City have been missing: if they ever need to, they can now win games with half a chance, whereas previously they were thought to have to dominate to be successful. More than anything, his size means teams can’t simply sit deep against City – as, say, Paris Saint-Germain did at the Parc des Princes last season, quite happy to let City throw crosses from deep against Phil Foden; no one would risk doing that against Haaland.
Once balanced, City’s dominance was outstanding. Since losing to Tottenham on February 5, City have played 23 games in which they have trailed by a total of 10 minutes. However you feel about the degree of suffocation in Arsenal’s clash, the fact is that a team that has won 11 games in a row is very difficult to stop.
Unless something completely unexpected happens next week, City will win their fifth Premier League title in six seasons. England are not yet in the same monopoly situation as France or Germany, but there is understandably a growing feeling that the league is not where City and Guardiola should be judged. It won’t be City’s best season in the league under Guardiola in terms of points won, goals scored or goals conceded, but even allowing for the understandable wrinkles while Haaland’s integration was managed, none of that matters other than the possibility of treble. For City, the Champions League remains the grail. Win this and whatever happens in the FA Cup final against United, it will be Guardiola’s greatest season in England, the greatest season in Manchester City’s history.
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