Category Archives: 2020-21

Istanbul 2023 & Vienna 1970 – ‘I was there’ interview

In the aftermath of Manchester City’s 2023 Champions League success I hoped to find a Blue who had been to both the 2023 final and the club’s previous European trophy success in 1970. I was eventually contacted by Colin Smith who did go to both (and he also went to Porto in 2021 too!) and we decided to have a chat about it. We ended up talking for about one hour comparing the finals and discussing Colin’s trips both as a youngster in 1970 and then as a grandfather in 2023.

The interview took place a while ago and at that time Colin had been to three MCFC European finals. Since then of course he has also been to Athens to watch City win the Super Cup too.

You can now hear our interview here. It’s well worth a listen, especially if you’re a fan who didn’t get chance to go to those finals. Here goes:

1970 ECWC

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Reaching A First CL Final

On 4 May 2021 Manchester City reached the final of the Champions League for the first time in their history when they defeated Paris St Germain 2-0 with both goals from Mahrez. The first leg had ended with a 2-1 City win. This meant Manchester became only the second non-capital city to have had two teams reach a European Cup final. Manchester was of course the first British city to have two teams competing in the European Cup in the same season (1968-69).

Manager Pep Guardiola was somewhat pleased to say the least: ‘I’m incredibly proud and my first thoughts are with the players who didn’t play today. They all deserved to play, everyone has made a contribution and now it is time to enjoy it. We have to win the league and we have two or three weeks to prepare for the final.

‘They put a lot of players in the middle and we struggled a lot in the first half to high press and we changed at half-time. We recovered the ball better in the second half and we were much better in the way we played and 4-1 on aggregate against a team that beat Barcelona and Bayern Munich means a lot to us.

‘People believe it’s easy to arrive in the final of the Champions League. Getting to the final now makes sense of what we have done in the past four or five years.’

The game was played in unseasonal snow but the brilliant Riyad Mahrez was able to adapt well, scoring from a move started by goalkeeper Ederson’s 60-yard pass.

There had been a bit of a scare for City when a penalty was awarded to PSG for a handball by Oleksandr Zinchenko but it was correctly overturned. Phew!

Mahrez netted his second of the night just after the hour when he turned in Phil Foden’s cross at the far post to effectively end the tie.

PSG once again lost their discipline (Idrissa Gueye was sent off late in the first leg) and former United man Angel di Maria was shown a red card for a senseless stamp on Fernandinho.

City were in full control and you can watch highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-psg-champions-league-semi-final-second-leg-63755763

That night was remarkable and several records were established:

  • City broke the record for longest winning run by an English club in European Cup history (7)
  • They became the first English side to win 11 games in a single European Cup/Champions League campaign (they are one off equalling Real Madrid’s record of 12 games)

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The First Noel and More

In the build up to MCFC’s ChampionsLeague final the other year I interviewed musician Noel Gallagher about his support for City. Here are the first 15 minutes of that interview.

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2021/05/noel-gallagher-first-15-minutes.mp3 

If you enjoyed that you can listen to part two and the other sections via the following links. Subscribers to my site get access to hundreds of articles, recordings (such as my earlier interviews with Malcolm Allison & John Bond). There’s also lots of free content on the site. If you enjoy this and would like to support my research, the site etc. then why not donate a couple of pounds to pay the website’s bills and help fund detailed research into football’s history. You can do that lower down this page. Thanks.

Now, here’s part two:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part two

Part three:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part three

Part four:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part four

Part five:

The Noel Gallagher interview Part five

If you enjoy all the free material on my website and would like to support my research and keep this website going (but don’t want to subscribe) then why not make a one-time donation (or buy me a coffee). All support for my research is valued and welcome. It allows me to keep some free material available for all. Thanks.

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Manchester City 4 Wolves 1

On 2 March 2021 Manchester City defeated Wolves 4-1 at the Etihad. The scoring started in the 15th minute with an own goal (netted by Dendoncker). Coady equalised 16 minutes into the second half but goals from Gabriel Jesus (80 & 90+3) and Mahrez (90) gave City the victory. The win extended City’s winning run to 21 games in all competitions.

City were 15 points clear at the top of the Premier League after this game. Afterwards Guardiola told the press: ‘In winter time in England it’s hell and in that time we did something incredible. It’s more than remarkable. The players have all my compliments but Liverpool have the crown. To win the Premier League we need those points.’

Manchester City 2 West Ham 1

Today (27 February) in 2021 Manchester City defeated West Ham United 2-1 at the Etihad with Ruben Dias opening the scoring for the Blues after 30 minutes. Antonio equalised 13 minutes later but John Stones’ third league goal of the season ensured a City victory. The win meant City were 13 points clear at the top of the Premier League

City’s win was Pep Guardiola’s 500th as a manager and his 200th win as City boss (273rd game in charge – the fewest games needed by a manager of an English top-flight side to reach that mark).

The win also meant that City were unbeaten in 27 matches and this was their second-longest run in their history.

Antonio’s equaliser was the first home Premier League goal City had conceded since 15 December (a Dias own goal against West Bromwich Albion) and it ended their 629-minute run.

Manchester Confidential Article 2

My second Manchester Confidential article was posted last week. This one is about Manchester City and European success, looking forward to this week’s Champions League tie with Leipzig and remembering City’s first European trophy success:

https://confidentials.com/manchester/when-will-manchester-city-achieve-european-champions-league-glory?id=63ef59984ff4e

Each month I’ll be focusing on a different club from the region and will write a piece combining the team’s modern day situation with a historical angle. My first feature was about Manchester United. I do intend covering the League clubs of Greater Manchester, plus some of our other prominent sides, over the coming months. I hope you enjoy them. Thanks.

Ten Consecutive Wins Record

Manchester City became the first English side to record 10 consecutive top-flight league wins at the start of a year on this day (17 February) in 2021. They defeated Everton 3-1 with goals from Phil Foden, Riyad Mahrez and Bernardo Silva. These were those odd days when we weren’t allowed to go to games but you can see highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/everton-v-manchester-city-extended-highlights-feb-17-2021-63749193

MCFC Score 4 At Anfield

On this day (7th February) in 2021 League leaders Manchester City managed a 4-1 victory over reigning Champions Liverpool. It was the Blues’ greatest win at Anfield for over 80 years.

The Blues have struggled to win at Anfield over the last 40 years (I don’t need to go through the stats, City fans get bombarded with them every time there’s a game at Anfield! So the 2021 resounding victory over Liverpool was significant. City ended up winning the League by 12 points with Manchester United second.

In 1937 the Blues managed a 5-0 victory on Good Friday (and three days later won 5-1 at Maine Road). That season the Blues went on to win the League, as they did in 2021 of course.

As the above advert shows, it cost 3 shillings for a return train fare to Anfield that day (sadly no fans were allowed in 2021).

Here’s how the MCFC match programme remembered the 1937 victory:

I love that advert – so appropriate!

Here are the League results and table following that historic win at Anfield. It’s interesting to see which clubs are no longer members of football’s top division and which of today’s giants are missing.

Here are a few snippets from a Liverpool based newspaper telling the story of that day:

Here’s a few stats from the victory over Liverpool in 2021:

  • Sterling became the third player to score 100 or more goals under Guardiola, after Barcelona’s Lionel Messi (211) and City’s Sergio Aguero (120).
  • Of all players to score at least 10 goals within the top five European leagues (England, France, Germany, Italy and Spain) this season, only Borussia Dortmund’s Erling Haaland (20 years 2021 days) is younger than Phil Foden (20 years 255 days). Now where have we heard of Haaland?
  • Since netting his first goal of the season on 15 December 2020, Ilkay Gundogan had scored at least three more Premier League goals than any other player (nine).
  • At 20 years and 255 days Phil Foden is the youngest player to score and assist in a Premier League game at Anfield.
  • Oleksandr Zinchenko made his 50th Premier League appearance on that day.

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Goalscoring Nationalities

Prior to this weekend’s game with Spurs, Manchester City have had players from 41 different nations score for the Blues in the Premier League. Can you remember them all? The following 1200 word article tells the story…

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Cheltenham For The First Time

On this day (23 January) in 2021 Manchester City played Cheltenham Town for the first time in a competitive fixture. Details and highlights below:

The game ended in a 3-1 City victory but the home side had actually taken the lead first with a 59th minute goal from May. In fact it remained 1-0 right up until the final 9 minutes of normal play.

First Foden netted the equaliser in the 81st minute then, three minutes later Jesus made it 2-1 to City. In the fourth minute of added time Torres made it 3-1 and an embarrassing FA Cup 4th round defeat was avoided! Cheltenham were 72 places below City and, inevitably, much of the media coverage discussed the value of City’s starting 11 (and the bench – I wish City would turn up one day at a game with a diamond encrusted gold bench just so that the usual critics could waffle on even more about the cost of the bench!). Anyway, enough of that, here are the MCFC highlights:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/cheltenham-town-1-3-man-city-short-highlights-63747017

You can also watch the BBC’s version of the highlights here:

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/55766769

Were you at this match? If you were why not leave your memory as a comment or email it to me for possible future use on this website?

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