Tag Archives: Pep Guardiola

A Memorable European Night

On this day (17 May) in 2023 Manchester City defeated Real Madrid 4-0 (5-1 on aggregate) in the UEFA Champions League semi final. It was one of the most incredible games of football I have ever seen. For me, it was City’s best European performance at the Etihad and, from what I can remember, no European game at Maine Roadbettered it (older Blues may talk about the ECWC semi in 1970 – I was only a baby – but surely the Madrid victory bettered that too?). I’d go further and say that in terms of overall performance, atmosphere and style, considering who City were playing, that that was the greatest City game of all time – yes, that is debatable I know!

Pre match MCFC V Real Madrid waiting for the team

Obviously, we had the high drama of Agueroooooooo in 2012 but most of that game had been a frustrating mess of a match. The Madrid game was brilliant, breathtaking and wonderful from the moment it started through to leaving the stadium many, many minutes after the final whistle. The game was incredible – I don’t normally do superlatives so when I do I genuinely mean it.

There’s a certain amount of ‘completing the circle’ in City’s European journey – Alan Oakes captained City’s first European Cup game against Istanbul’s Fenerbahce in 1968, so the entire continental journey started there and in 2023 the Blues won the CL final in that city. It also felt appropriate that the man we’ve been singing about when we’ve sung our going to Istanbul chant these last few years was the man who scored twice against Real Madrid. Ber-nar-do!

Players pre match MCFC V Real Madrid

I know City had been to a Champions League final before but last year was significantly different. City have suffered at the hands of English clubs Liverpool, Spurs and Chelsea over the years in Europe and it never quite felt right. Playing continental royalty like Real Madrid and Bayern Munich and then Inter Milan took it to a different level. As did the final of course!

2023 Champions League Final Istanbul v Inter Milan

Many Blues had waited a long time for European glory. I was a toddler when City had previously won a major European trophy and I always dreamed of seeing City match or eclipse what Mercer’s men did in 1970. From Marsh’s debut to Pleat’s jig; ‘Look at his face’ to Tueart’s overhead; Beating AC Milan to Hutchison’s own goal; FA Youth Cup winners to Ball’s ‘hold the ball in the corner’; Bournemouth 3-3 to Morley’s Bradford goal; Reeves’ wonderful FAC goal to York away; 5-1 to 6-1; Bananas at Stoke to relegation at Stoke; FMC Final to Dickov’s rescue; Swales Out to Thaksin’s Albert Square singing; Kippax Last Stand to Etihad’s safe standing; Foe’s last goal at Maine Road to Aguerooooooooooo; Pearce’s good luck beanie to Bernardo’s cup; the invisible man to Emptyhad; James up front to Walker in nets… it had been a long time coming!

The young Gary

So this CL semi final thrashing of Real Madrid was so important and led to a wonderful final in Istanbul (let’s not mention the post match issues today!).

Rival fans may not agree unless they’ve experienced it themselves but multiple relegations are character building and make moments like Real Madrid, the the final, even more incredible. You don’t need to experience a relegation to enjoy success, but if you’ve suffered relegations (I’ve been through five) and those dismal, dismal days then reaching points like 2023 are heightened.    

Final moments MCFC V Real Madrid 2023

In 2023 there were the usual negative voices about money. Show me a truly successful club who hasn’t spent! Not only that but City beat Bayern and Real in 2023’s European campaign (plus in the PL the usual collection of clubs that had been spending big for decades)… hardly poor relations. Hardly clubs with no history of success. These are European giants. Real Madrid have won more Champions League/European Cups than all English clubs put together. They are European aristocracy. Beating them – and the entire campaign – was a massive achievement for City, overcoming major obstacles and competing in a Premier League that in the previous 12 years or so had seen more of the top clubs challenge and tighter points totals between 1st and 2nd than in previous decades.

Malcolm Allison once said to me: ‘Celebrate every success as if it’s your first, because it could be your last.’ As a man who had been to the top and helped City win a European trophy I guess we should always remember his words. 2023 was a year like no other and it should always be celebrated.

After the whistle. 2023 Champions League Final Istanbul v Inter Milan
Champions League Porto 2021
Champions League trophy at Istanbul 2023

Haaland’s 35th

On this day (3 May) in 2023 it was a privilege being at the Etihad to see Erling Haaland break the Premier League’s seasonal goalscoring record with City’s second in their 3-0 victory over West Ham United. He netted his 35th Premier League goal of the season and then Phil Foden scored the 1000th goal of Pep’s City reign.

Ths South Stand pre-match, City v West Ham 3 May 2023. The new Pep flag.

Haaland’s goal that night meant that only 47 players had scored more competitive goals for City than Haaland had in the club’s entire history – that’s in their entire careers, not in most of one season! Also, it’s worth highlighting that Haaland had netted 5% of the 1000 goals scored under Pep at City. Phenomenal stuff!

I said it then and I’ll say it now, it’s always great for a historian to experience history being made. Nice work Haaland and City!

After the game Haaland was given a guard of honour by the City players, boss Pep Guardiola and the club’s backroom staff. Afterwards the player commented: ‘It was a nice feeling scoring that goal, it always is… It was painful when everyone hit me on the back in the guard of honour.’

Manager Pep commented: ‘He’s just 22… and still has five games left. How many games I made the substitution after a hat-trick in 60 minutes, maybe he’d have scored more. But maybe he’d have got injured. He’s special. Congratulations to him.

‘We expected him to score goals but to break Cole and Shearer records… I’m pretty sure what he wants is to win the Premier League.’

‘It’s unbelievable. How many important goals he’s scored to win games, we are so satisfied. He’s a unique person and he’s so special. He deserved the guard of honour because it’s an incredible milestone. Another day he might break his own record. He’s scored a lot of goals!’

Looking towards the South Stand pre-match, City v West Ham 3 May 2023 (West Ham fans unusually did not sell out their allocation)

Lee Jackson Man of the Match

Today (28 November) in 2021 Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believed that City groundsman Lee Jackson and his team were the real stars as City defeated West Ham 2-1 in snowy conditions. Pep said: ‘I think the groundkeepers, the men who took care of the pitch, were the men of the match. They did an incredible job so we could play the game today.’

In the first half with heavy snow falling on a pitch already covered in it, there was a real fear the game might not reach its conclusion. Lee Jackson and his team got to work and, with the aid of a half-time interval extended by referee Michael Oliver by five minutes, the surface was clear enough to play on.

City won the game with goals from Gundogan (33rd minute) and Fernandinho (90). West Ham scored a consolation (Lanzini) in the 4th minute of added time.

Olympique Lyonnais 2 Manchester City 2

Today (27 November) in 2018 Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City drew 2-2 at Lyon to qualify for the knockout stages of the Champions League. Pep said at the time that Lyon were ‘one of the toughest teams’ City had ever faced in the competition. You can watch highlights here:

https://www.mancity.com/citytv/match-highlights/2018/november/lyon-manchester-city-highlights-champions-league-video

Maxwel Cornet gave the home side an early second-half lead before City defender Aymeric Laporte levelled with a header. Cornet made it 2-1 after 81 minutes but then Sergio Aguero reacted quickest to flick in a header two minutes later.

In his post match interviews Pep commented: ‘We are so delighted and so happy. It is a big compliment for the team. We played one of toughest teams we’ve ever faced. They are physical, strong, they counter-attack incredible. We reacted after 1-0 and 2-1 and we are in the final stages. This was our target.’

He added: ‘Now we must try to get a point to finish first in the group stage, but it is so important to go through.’

City had qualified for the last 16 with one game to spare.

City End Spurs Run

A 1-1 draw saw Tottenham Hotspur’s run of consecutive victories from the start of the season come to an end at 11 wins (a run of 13 consecutive League wins in total). City of course now hold this record. A crowd of 58,916 saw the game on this day (10 October) in 1960 when City, wearing maroon and white stripes, ended Spurs’ run.

Tottenham’s Bobby Smith heading the opening goal past Bert Trautmann. The City ‘keeper had been superb and went on to demonstrate his skills throughout the game.

City’s Clive Colbridge equalised five minutes into the second half but most newspapers focused on the significance of Tottenham’s winning run with some believing it would never be bettered. They obviously couldn’t predict the brilliance of Pep Guardiola’s team.

Tottenham did go on to win the double (in the days when that seemed an impossibility, never mind a domestic treble or treble involving a European Cup! There was some praise for City in the report.

Here’s a contemporary match report of the Spurs game in 1960:

Manchester City v RB Leipzig

On this day (15 September) in 2021 RB Leipzig and Manchester City met for the first time competitively. That game was played at the Etihad Stadium in the competition’s group stage (Group A). It was Pep Guardiola’s 300th game as manager and City achieved a 6-3 victory which meant that the Blues became the quickest English team to achieve 50 wins in the Champions League. Nice work!

Nathan Ake opened the scoring with a powerful header in the 16th minute, becoming  the tenth different City player to score that season. The lead was increased twelve minutes later when Nordi Mukiele scored what was described by the BBC as a ‘calamitous own goal… The France defender got his angles horribly wrong as his attempted header back to his keeper following Kevin de Bruyne’s delivery ended up in the net.’

Nkunku scored for Leipzig three minutes before half time but City restored their two goal lead by half time with Riyad Mahrez netting a penalty (45+2) awarded after Lukas Klostermann handled.

Leipzig’s Nkunku headed home his second to reduce the deficit six minutes after the restart, but City hit back five minutes later as Jack Grealish scored with a delightful finish on his Champions League debut. Afterwards he commented about the whole experience: ‘I loved it. I’ve been waiting a while. The past few weeks, I couldn’t wait for this game. It’s a great night.’

Talking about the goal Grealish said: ‘The ball came to me and when I’m in that position, running into the area I’d back myself one on one against anyone to have a go and it paid off. I had a few in the first half that were blocked.’

Former Paris St-Germain player Nkunku scored again (73rd minute) to complete his hat-trick, but Joao Cancelo added a stunning 25 yard effort for City two minutes later. The former City player Angelino was dismissed for a second bookable offence four minutes later and then substitute Gabriel Jesus tapped in at the far post to make it six for City with only five minutes of normal time remaining.

The match ended 6-3 but in truth City’s victory was much more convincing than the three conceded goals suggest. Grealish loved the whole experience of his first Champions League match: ‘It was one of those games. It had absolutely everything. In the end we’re delighted to get the win against a good team full of energy and young players… I’m delighted to come away with the three points – and the goal and assist… I went to check the result from the other game [Club Bruges 1-1 PSG] and it shows anything can happen in the Champions League. It’s why it’s such a wonderful competition.’

Leipzig’s hat-trick scorer Christopher Nkunku was not as positive as Grealish however: ‘Every mistake was punished. We made a lot of individual errors. I scored three goals but every time they scored again right away. We needed to show more concentration. We knew the quality Manchester City have.’

For City boss Pep Guardiola there was disappointment that three goals had been conceded and he admitted: ‘Leipzig never give up. They have a special way to attack. They play all or nothing. You never have the feeling it’s over. We scored a few minutes after they scored… and it helped us a lot. They have a young team, so aggressive, so strong. A fantastic team. Leipzig give a good message to football. The quality of the players was better today and that’s why we won.’

Treble Success

I don’t know where to start with this but I wanted to get a few thoughts down ahead of the celebration chat I’ve planned for Wednesday (see link below)… This has been an absolutely incredible few weeks for fans of Manchester City and it’s also be mentally and physically draining too. It will be in the coming weeks that we get to relax and look back on it all but I wanted to get some top of the head thoughts down now while they’re buzzing around. So here goes…

The history of football moves at a frantic pace and there are key moments (Tueart, Dickov, Aguerooooooooooooo for example) that are era defining or represent the beginning or the end of an era. This last week is another of those with Rodri’s goal at Istanbul finally bringing City the Champions League that we’ve all craved for so long (but pretended at times that we didn’t).

Manchester City are now Champions Of Europe and, finally, Villa fans can stop singing their song to us! There were many occasions over the decades since City’s last European trophy that the club had a squad of players that were capable of major European success but sadly circumstances worked against them. There were also times when the club suffered major failures but I’ll forget those for the moment.

Depending on when you were born you tend to fall into three rough categories of City fan (there’s more than this but I hope you get my point):

  • Those who remember City as a major power, winning trophies and being ahead of United, Liverpool & others; then falling apart under bad chairmanship; then resurrected; then takeover and what we have today.
  • Those who remember the failures of the 80s/90s; the lack of chance of competing then the takeover and the glory that’s followed.
  • Those who have only known City as a dominant, trophy winning force.

The media tend to portray City as a failing 3rd tier club that got lucky, but the truth is that that was only one season and it was only in the late 1990s that United overtook City in terms of number of seasons at the highest level (I’ll explain the numbers another day but prior to the late 1990s United had spent more seasons between 1894 and then in the second tier than City had !).

In the 1970s City won three times as many trophies as United and even in the 1990s/2000s the Blues only spent 6 seasons out of the top flight. This was two spells (5 years and 1 year) and that 5 year spell was the longest period the Blues had ever endured out of the top flight.

This season finding European success has lifted everything in a global sense. I’ve talked previously (way back in 2012) about City being the club for the new generation and that is absolutely how it is panning out. Add to the Champions League the FA Cup – where City’s traditional rivals United were vanquished – and the Premier League (where City’s old rival from the 1930s looked certain to win the League for much of the season) and this has been a truly brilliant season.

https://gjfootballarchive.com/wp-content/uploads/2023/06/2023-champions-league-final-sd-480p.mov

City and United are now the only clubs ever to have achieved THE treble – a truly great achievement that many thought impossible. Add to that that Guardiola’s Blues have previously become the ONLY team to win a domestic treble and you get to see that this isn’t simply the greatest ever Manchester City side but one of, if not THE, greatest ever side in English football.

We’ve had the Viking Call (the best team in the land and all the world) chant for almost 50 years now but, for the first time, the words are absolutely true (though we haven’t yet had a competitive fixture to determine the best world team of course – that will come!).

If you’d like to come and join me for an online celebration then please do:

Celebrate Manchester City’s 2023 Champions League Success

These are truly great times to be a Blue. Enjoy!

Raining on the Parade

Here are a few images from last night’s parade. I will be posting some video and other stuff later in the week, including material from Istanbul, but hopefully this will be of interest.

How To Subscribe

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.

Choose an amount

£2.50
£5.00
£7.50

Or enter a custom amount

£

Your contribution is appreciated.

Donate

2023, 1999 & 1975 Comparisons – Any Point?

Driving back from Wembley last Saturday both Talksport and BBC Radio 5 Live had phone-in shows where the question kept being brought up about comparing Manchester United’s treble in 1999 with the possibility of City managing the same achievement this year. Obviously, a football game can go any direction and no success is guaranteed ever, so I am absolutely not going to talk as if something has been achieved when it hasn’t. If City do manage this incredible feat then the comparisons are likely to be made again BUT how sensible is this?

I am against making these comparisons because I think they’re futile. A bit like when I asked former City player Johnny Williamson, who had played with both Frank Swift and Bert Trautmann, which was best. He said: ‘It doesn’t matter. You pick one and I’ll pick the other because the two of them were head and shoulders above the rest!’

United’s treble in 1999 was absolutely incredible and a major achievement. If City manage the same this weekend then that will also be incredible and a major achievement. Which is best doesn’t matter and even if it did can we really do an accurate comparison? 24 years is a long time in football and the game changes so much in that time.

Much has been made about where City were in 1999 (winning promotion from ‘new’ Division Two) when United won their treble. People have said: ‘How can a team go from promotion challengers to potential treble winners in 24 years?’ Well, guess where United were 24 years before their treble…. they were promotion challengers in ‘old’ Division Two!

Martin Buchan and Alex Stepney celebrating United’s promotion in 1975 at Old Trafford

In the years that followed United’s promotion in 1975 they had a few peaks and troughs as City have. It wasn’t until 1993 (18 years after promotion) that they won the League for the first time since the 1960s but they had won the FA Cup 2 years after promotion. It took City only 13 years after their 1999 promotion to win the League but the FA Cup came in 2011 (12 years after the 1999 promotion). Both clubs spent a lot of money to find those first successes with City receiving Abu Dhabi investment and United borrowing heavily (the increasing level of debt was frequently raised by shareholders back then who questioned whether the club could sustain making purchases like they had to create the most expensive British team ever up to that point) to fund Ferguson’s first successful team.

Comparisons would need to look into every aspect of both clubs – for example Pep’s team are the only team to win a domestic treble as well, so does that elevate their current achievements? Similarly, Ferguson led United to a period of sustained success and dominance that no one else has matched so far. Comparisons are really fairly pointless.

To United fans their treble will always be the best and to City fans, if the club is lucky enough to achieve the same, that will be the best. For most neutrals it will be ‘so what?’, although they’ll downplay any success by a rival. I remember in 1999 someone phoning in a BBC radio show after United had won the Champions League for the second time. The caller was a Nottingham Forest fan who had got fed up with all the praise being heaped on United and, like many United fans today about City, he felt his club was more worthy. He said something like: ‘You keep going on about this United team but what have they done? They’ve just matched what Forest and Brian Clough achieved years ago. We’ve had two European Cups for years and our team was better and cheaper than this lot!’

It’s all a game to fill programmes and articles. It’s not needed. If you think about it 24 years is an extremely long time. If both Manchester clubs can go from promotion chasing teams to European finals in those years then that’s some journey. You have to be well into your 30s to stand a chance of being able to compare 1999 and 2023 and for anyone under that age it’s ancient history and another ‘so what?’.

When United won the treble in 1999 I was an adult with two kids and was just in my 30s. I’d written four major books on Manchester football (including the Pride of Manchester on Manchester derby matches) by this time and had researched the history of both clubs in-depth, so I did get interviewed a lot by TV and radio. I was perceived as an expert, but if you’d have asked me to compare United’s 1975 promotion team with City’s 1999 promotion team I would’ve had to admit I was too young to appreciate what United’s 1975 achievement was like. I’d be able to quote journalists and interviewees but I couldn’t give an honest view which group of players was better. It’s the same now, yet we’ve a whole range of people offering views who are either invested in one club or who are too young to be able to talk with knowledge about it. In any case football in 2023 is somewhat different to football in 1999 – just as that was so different from 1975 and that so different from 1951.

Paul Dickov at Wembley 1999

Maybe we should have filled phone-ins after City had won the double on Saturday with questions like: ‘How does City’s League and Cup double compare with past doubles? Was this City team better than Preston in 1889?’ It’s ludicrous to even try.

The 2023 FA Cup Final – All Manchester

Well, the first all-Manchester FA Cup final has been and gone but what a day? Before any major fixture you hope that it will live up to the hype and, as a historian, I always hope that something different than normal will occur, or a record will be broken.

I’m always keen on pointing out that history is made every day and that historians have to constantly re-evaluate what stories they are telling if they want to represent and record society as it changes. I am totally against those that think history is something that doesn’t move with the times and I always try to think about those who may be experiencing something for the first time. City’s 2023 FA Cup success could easily be the earliest footballing memory for some and what a memory it will be!

As I entered the stadium the entry gate and stairway I used had the usual years and landmark moments decorating its walls and I did notice the comment about the fastest goal in a FA Cup final (it claimed Di Matteo’s goal after 43 seconds was still the record, so that needed updating even before the game!). I didn’t expect any goal to occur in the first few minutes of the game, never mind the first few seconds. More on that in a moment.

The journey to Wembley was more difficult than normal, due to the rail strike and the fact so many were going down the same routes. The route I took, mostly M1, seemed busier than normal (normal – it’s ‘normal’ going to Wembley now!) but it was mostly City fans I saw. I’m sure others experienced something else but for me there were the occasional United vehicles. Most of the cars and coaches that I saw with colours showing (scarves out the window is an absolute must on days like these for many of us!) were blue not red. That reminded me a lot of the 2011 FA Cup semi final when every City car we saw was full of happy, laughing, smiling City fans pre-match but United fans seemed more serious or concerned with what the day would bring. The similarities between the two days were striking.

Traffic jams meant the journey was longer than anticipated but once we parked up in our usual spot (‘usual’, ‘normal’ – I hope that never changes) we were ready. A quick wander around was followed by buying the programme. I had two articles in this year’s FA Cup final programme – one on City & United’s first FA Cup successes in 1904 and 1909 and another was a peaks and troughs sort of timeline. Both pieces were neutral and I was delighted to be asked to contribute to the programme once more.

Inside the stadium the tickets we had bought were up at the back of level 5 block 546. Coincidentally just before kick off the people on the row behind us arrived and one was Ian Brightwell, one of the players when City defeated United in the only previous All-Manchester FA final (that was the 1986 FA Youth Cup).

As for the game. Well, what an opener! We’d not had chance to settle really when Gundogan netted that wonderful strike. I remember looking straight up to the video screen and seeing the clock change from 12 to 13 seconds. Incredible.

As Brightwell was behind me I couldn’t resist turning to him and saying ‘I see Gundogan “just wellied it!” like you did in 1990.’ For those that don’t remember or are too young Brightwell did a similar goal from several yards out in an Old Trafford derby in 1990. Afterwards while being interviewed he was asked about the goal but the interview kept being interrupted and so he had to answer the question multiple times. On the last occasion he simply answered: ‘I just wellied it!’ and the phrase entered City folklore.

There was the penalty given to United of course – I won’t go into the rights and wrongs of that but i do want to mention VAR. I find it absolutely ridiculous that those of us who have spent considerable time and effort in getting to Wembley and attending the final are the ones who knew least about what was going on. We had nothing on the screen to tell us a check was in progress; we had no opportunity to see the video clips and we only knew it was being reviewed when the ref stopped the game (after some time too! What if a player had been injured or another goal had been scored in the meantime?) and went over to the monitor.

The moment he headed towards the monitor we knew something was going to be given because I can’t think of a time when a ref has stuck to his guns in England (I’m sure it’s happened but I don’t remember).

The penalty changed the mood for a while, but City fans were in good voice when the second half started and it seemed inevitable then that the Blues would score again. I don’t think any of us expected Gundogan to be the man again but over these last few months he’s clearly led by example. He deserved the man of the final award and hopefully he’ll get further honours this season.

So the game ended 2-1 and City have achieved a coveted double again (last time was the only time an English club had won a domestic treble!). Brilliant work City and the season isn’t over yet!

It was wonderful to see the players celebrate. Those celebrations on the pitch demonstrated how much this all meant to them. People often try to suggest a domestic cup isn’t anything special but it absolutely is. How many of us have ever won a FA Cup? These players were outstanding and deserve tremendous praise, as does the manager of course.

People talk about money but City are not the biggest spenders either in actual outflow terms or in net spend terms. Like Alex Ferguson and United in the late 1980s/early 1990s, City have spent money on players to find success. Also, like United at that time trophy success brings additional income, gate receipts, prize money, sponsorship etc. which in turn can be used to invest in youth development and finding ways to sustain success. There’s no point going on about this but I do wish that people looked at the history of football and focused on fact rather than the fiction that often gets spouted.

On the way home there was a lot of talk on the radio about possible trebles and it was interesting that almost every phone-in I could find was trying to compare United’s 1999 treble with the possibility of City winning one this season. Who knows how Saturday will go and I won’t get drawn into that but I do want to say that United winning the treble was an incredible achievement. If City manage to do the same this year then that will also be an incredible achievement. So much has changed in 24 years that comparisons are ridiculous.

Actually, I did hear on the radio one presenter go on about how City have spent because ‘in 1999 when United were winning their treble they were getting promoted’ (paraphrased but basically that comment). Had I been able to call in I might have done because 24 years ago that is true but it is also true that 24 years before 1999 United were also getting promoted. It’s a similarity people have overlooked, but if somehow it is wrong for City to go from struggling team to potential treble winners in 24 years then surely it would also be wrong for United to do the same? Ah well! Facts not fiction.

When City got back to Manchester they were greeted by Elton John who, it has been said, waited to meet and congratulate them. The videos and photos are wonderful to watch. Noel Gallagher may have to watch out – usually he’s the one singing along with Pep and the players after a major trophy success.

While you are here why not have a look at the 100 day countdown I’m doing to mark the centenary of Maine Road’s first game? You can do a search on Maine Road or start by looking at this one:

Maine Road 100 – Day 1