Football writing, thoughts and more by Gary James
The first leg of the Champions League semi final between Manchester City and Paris Saint Germain was played on this date (28 April) in 2021. Subscribers to this site can read about that game and the second leg below.
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Pep Guardiola’s team won the League Cup for a record-equalling fourth time in succession with a deserved victory over Tottenham on this day (25 April) in 2021. The London club had dismissed manager Jose Mourinho earlier that week, placing coach Ryan Mason in charge for this final. At 29 Mason became the youngest man to be in charge for a League Cup final.
City were the dominant team for most of the game, but the game’s only goal didn’t arrive until eight minutes from time. Aymeric Laporte rose to head home Kevin De Bruyne’s free kick.
After the final Pep Guardiola told the BBC: ‘That is what these players give for the future generations of this club. It is not winning [just] one title. This team in the last decade was the team in England – since Roberto Mancini won the Premier League, this team wins a lot of times in England. It’s nice, four Carabao Cups in a row, it means consistency in the team to be there. We beat Arsenal and Manchester United on the way so we can say we deserved to win this competition. The way we played was fantastic and it’s nice when you win a title. The most impressive thing is in the last 33 games we won 30.’
The victory meant City were now level with Liverpool on eight League Cup final wins and no team had bettered that success. Similarly no manager had won the competition more than Pep Guardiola.
In this Covid-hit season there was some positive news for fans as a limited number were allowed to attend the final wearing face masks. Stewards were told to actively look for fans taking them off and frequently they went into the crowd to ask fans to re-mask otherwise they’d face expulsion. The final attendance of 7,773 included around 2,000 from each club and a number of locally based residents. At the end those from Manchester and the neutrals present stayed to watch the Blues lift their eighth League Cup.
Match Stats
25 April 2021
Manchester City 1 (Laporte) Tottenham Hotspur 0
Attendance 7,773 (Covid restrictions)
You can read my comments about attending the final here:
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DonateOn this day (6 April) in 2021 Manchester City had a tough Champions League first leg at Borussia Dortmund. It ended 2-1 to City with Kevin De Bruyne opening the scoring on 19 minutes. Then in the final minute of normal time the same player sent a great cross in which was touched back by Gundogan for Phil Foden to send past goalkeeper Hirtz.
It had been a tense finish as future Blue Erling Haaland set Marco Reus for the German equaliser only six minutes from time. City’s determination had won through in a tough game.
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DonateOn this day (16 March) in 2021 City faced Monchengladbach in the second leg of this Champions League round of 16 tie. They had won the first leg 2-0 and went on to match that scoreline in this second leg. Due to Covid restrictions both legs of this tie were played at the Puskas Arena in Budapest and so this game enters the record books as one of the few home games not played in Manchester by the Blues.
City started the game without a recognised centre forward as both Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero were on the bench, but Pep Guardiola’s side were in control from the start. The German team were unable to cope with City’s quality, passing, creativity and movement.
The opening goal came when Kevin De Bruyne scored a wonderful 20 yard left footed strike after only twelve minutes. This was the 100th goal scored by City in all competitions this season. Six minutes later Ilkay Gundogan slotted the ball past the Monchengladbach ‘keeper following a great run and pass from Phil Foden.
Pep Guardiola enjoyed the victory: ‘It was a good performance; we controlled the game from the beginning. Players like Phil Foden, Bernardo Silva have a lot of quality, they help us a lot, but everyone was so committed and we’re delighted to be in the next stage. We now have everybody fit. That’s why we can rotate six or seven players. If you want to compete for competitions, you have to be fresh. The seasons are so long, we haven’t had one long week [off] since October.’
Post match the statisticians enjoyed highlighting a variety of City achievements. These included a couple of odd facts such as: Half of Monchengladbach’s defeats (5 out of 10) in the Champions League have been by City. City were also one of one three teams (AC Milan & Arsenal) to have kept seven consecutive clean sheets in the competition’s history.
Match Stats
16 March 2021
Manchester City 2 (De Bruyne & Gundogan) Borussia Monchengladbach 0
Attendance 0 (Covid restrictions)
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DonateManchester City’s 2-1 victory over West Ham on 27 February 2021 saw the Blues take the lead after 30 minutes, when a cross from Kevin De Bruyne was met perfectly by defender Ruben Dias. This was Dias’s first goal for City.
For a while it seemed like this would be a relatively straightforward win, but West Ham had several chances, and the Hammers were as defensive as you’d expect from a team managed by David Moyes. Just before the break they equalised via Antonio.
In the 68th minute a City corner led to John Stones netting City’s second and ultimately the winner.
On this day (17 June) in 2020 football returned to the Etihad after the pause in the 2019-20 season caused by the Covid pandemic. The first game there saw Manchester City defeat Arsenal 3-0 with goals from Sterling, De Bruyne and Foden. You can watch highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/man-city-3-0-arsenal-long-highlights-63728028
On 3 June 2023 Ilkay Gundogan City secured his place in national football history with the quickest goal in a FA Cup final. It was a stunning volley after only 12 seconds. That day Gundogan scored two and helped City to 2-1 FA Cup final victory over Manchester United.
As well as the speed of the first goal, Gundogan’s goals gave him another MCFC record. Dave Masey, who has been collecting stats and historical information on Manchester City for years contacted me to tell me about one of his spreadsheets which holds details of City scorers in trophy winning games.
His records capture those who have scored in major cup finals, but besides Cup Finals he also records other trophy-winning games. These include the deciding League games from 1937 onwards against Sheffield Wednesday (1937), Newcastle, QPR, West Ham, Brighton and Villa (2022), but nothing from three recent title successes where the Blues clinched the title when they were not playing. Got that? Good, now….
Dave tells me that the FA Cup success saw Gundogan move to the top of the list with 5 goals, overtaking Neil Young and Sergio Aguero. So he has scored more goals in trophy-winning games than any other Blue.
The list of scorers in trophy winning games reads:
| 1904 | Meredith |
| 1934/7 | Tilson (3), Brook (2), Doherty |
| 1956 | Hayes, Dyson, Johnstone |
| 1968/70 | Young (4), Lee (2), Summerbee, Doyle, Pardoe |
| 1976 | P Barnes, Tueart |
| 2011-(former) | Aguero (4), Y Toure (2), Nasri (2), Kompany (2), D Silva (2),Jesus (2), Sterling (2), Dzeko, Zabaleta, Navas, Fernandinho |
| 2016-(current) | Gundogan (5), Laporte (2), Rodri (2), Mahrez, De Bruyne |
Dave also tells me that in the three seasons where somebody else’s defeat clinched the title for City, the scorers in the club’s last game before the title confirmation were:
Gundogan (3), Sterling (2), Jesus, Haaland.
As Dave says, Ilkay gets a remarkable number of important goals, particularly for somebody who is ‘just’ a 1 goal in 5/6 games player (63 in 357 for City by June 2025).
If all goes to plan today (20 May 2025) will see Kevin De Bruyne play his last competitive home game for Manchester City. KDB has been a wonderful player for City and my feature in tonight’s match programme highlights this. I try to consider the thorny question of ‘greatest player of all time’.
It’s an impossible question to answer but I’d really appreciate your views. Where does Kevin fit in City’s list of greatest all-time players? Better than Bell, Doherty, David Silva, Aguero etc? What’s you view?
On this day (5 December) in 2020 in front of an official crowd of zero (these were the days when no fans were allowed to attend due to Covid) Raheem Sterling (5th minute) and Kevin De Bruyne (penalty after Sterling had been brought down) gave City a 2-0 victory at home to Fulham. You can watch highlights here:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-2-0-fulham-extended-highlights-63742795
Today (5 November) last year Manchester City defeated Fulham 2-1 but the victory had not been as straightforward as some had predited. Julian Alvarez opened the scoring after 17 minutes and the Blues looked comfortable but then Cancelo was sent off ten minutes later (a straight red) and City conceded the resulting penalty too.
The Blues seemed up against it and as the game entered added time it felt like it was going to be one of those days. Then De Bruyne was judged to have been fouled when he went down for a penalty deep into added time and Erling Haaland made it 2-1 from the spot kick. The following highlights are worth watching to see what you think of it all but, most significantly, listen to Alistair Mann’s commentary. His final words say in effect that this is the moment that swings the advantage to City in the title race and should be remembered in May as the day City won it. There’s often hyperbole in commentary but those words, recorded in November 2022, do seem to predict the future somewhat:
https://www.mancity.com/citytv/mens/manchester-city-2-1-fulham-extended-highights-63803266
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