• Direct Narration and statistics

Football, contrary to what the spring does, tends to wither in April and May the shoots that seem lush in March and even Guardiola himself, with that alleged - some would say impost - humility so much of his, he seems to know.

«It is a utopia.

It has never happened and I think it will never happen, “the coach reprimanded his footballer Zinchenko in the previous night's process for musing with a Manchester City four-time champion: Premier League, FA Cup, League Cup and Champions.

Indeed, what has never happened.

[Narration and statistics]

What will never happen is more debatable, even in the short term, since watching this City play is right now an experience without comparison possible in all of Europe.

It is by far the most nurtured staff of talent on the entire continent and, already tied to the Premier in practice, it exhibits it in the Champions League with force but without arrogance.

As if he still does not want the world to contemplate him sailing at full sail, either out of modesty, or prudence, or to save himself the bullet of activating one more gear by surprise when he needs it.

Who knows.

Against Borussia Mönchengladbach he served him with almost idling for most of the 180 minutes of the tie.

A crossing in which hunger was combined with the desire to eat, because in the face of the infallibility of City -20 victories in its last 21 games- a decomposing Borussia was planted that has already accumulated seven consecutive defeats.

The Champions League he said goodbye to is already an impossible goal for the next season, in which his coach

Marco Rose

will lead Dortmund.

Too unstable to think of surprising this Imperial City.

And if at some point he thought about it, Guardiola and his boys immediately took it upon themselves to erase it from his mind.

Without a classic forward -Agüero and Gabriel Jesus were substitutes-, without Sterling and with a bulky collection of creative midfielders on the field, City seized the ball from the first moment and took pains to circulate it at a speed that derailed to Borussia.

After a first warning from Foden,

De Bruyne

scored the third goal of the tie in the 12th minute with a very violent shot, arming his left foot from the front and looking for the inner edge of the crossbar.

Six minutes later, it was Gündogan who scored the second, although

Foden

could score half a goal

.

The young English midfielder drew a 30-meter drive until his teammate offered him uncheck.

It only remained for him to beat Sommer and he did not fail in his task.

A second act as training

There were 70 minutes left in the tie and, after the 0-2 in the first leg, Borussia had to score four goals to sneak into the quarterfinals.

Rarely was there a more unlikely mission in soccer.

The Germans only had the challenge of showing their pride, trusting that City would lower the piston after having solved the process more than enough.

After pressing for a while longer and threatening both

Gündogan

and

De Bruyne

with a double, he did so at the end of the first half and

Embolo

could

at least finish off next to Ederson's stick.

Less is nothing.

What happened in the second half on the pitch of the Puskas Arena in Budapest - also the scene of the first leg and now a wild card stadium in the face of pandemic restrictions - was little more than intense training.

Both Guardiola and

Rose

took advantage of the circumstances to give rest to some of their most demanded men.

Mahrez

and a

Sterling

who seems to have lost hierarchy in his manager's plans looked for individual brilliance, but couldn't find it.

The match was played at such low revs that the final whistle hardly affected its development.

180 minutes of processing that were coming to an end.

According to the criteria of The Trust Project

Know more

  • sports

  • football

  • Champions League

ChampionsThe vindication of Luis Alberto: Covid, appendicitis and goals

ChampionsMendy's hardest moment: "The doctor told me about amputation"

ChampionsThe secrets of the Europa League 2012, face to face in the room with Simeone: "There we started to win the final"

See links of interest

  • 2021 business calendar

  • Barça - Unicaja

  • Real Madrid - Atalanta, live

  • Manchester City - Borussia Mönchengladbach