Media thread 2022/23

[stonerblue]

The match report by Jason Burt in the Telegraph is journalism at it's finest, well worth a read.

As is Quileme Balagues (sp)

 

[Kinkybyname]

The match report by Jason Burt in the Telegraph is journalism at it's finest, well worth a read.

Manchester City 4 Bernardo 23, 37, Akanji 76, Alvarez 90+1 Real Madrid 0 Manchester City win 5-1 on aggregate
Pep Guardiola recently said that perfection did not exist in football. Then Manchester City produce a performance like this in not just beating but annihilating the 14-time European champions, the behemoth that is Real Madrid, to reach the Champions League final.
Make no mistake: the treble is on. It would actually be a major shock now if they did not do it. This felt like City's most difficult test, arguably the biggest game they have played since they moved to the Etihad, and they were majestic.This is football on another plane.
This is football from another planet, especially in a first half when no team in the world could have lived with them. Real were taken apart and even with their incredible powers of recovery, they knew the game was up.
It was as good as it gets. Guardiola's legacy, he had joked, was already exceptional, but that is no vain claim. City are one win away from a third successive Premier
League title, and may not even need that, one win away from winning the FA Cup and one win away from winning the Champions League for the first time.
Inter Milan in Istanbul on June 10 stand in their way but City will rightly be the overwhelming favourites having negotiated this last-four meeting, which felt like a de facto final.
On this evidence, Inter will not be able to cope against what is emerging as possibly the greatestever club side. That is some statement but think about how City dominate. They remove jeopardy. It really is perfection in its beautiful destructiveness.
Guardiola, in his black jacket and jumper, twirled his right arm in the air to whip up the crowd like an ageing rock icon. He's electric and the watching Noel Gallagher would have approved. Guardiola wanted tempo. He wanted pressure. He wanted City to attack.
the Etihad was rocking. Real could not get the ball as they faced wave after wave of attack and just as it was shaping up to be Thibaut Courtois, the world's best goalkeeper, against Erling Haaland, the world's best centre-forward, City scored with a goal created by arguably the world's best midfielder .
Not so long ago that mantle was worn by Luka Modric, with his Real team-mate Toni Kroos also having a claim, but they were both by- passed by a wonderfully precise pass from Kevin De Bruyne, who now has that title.
Modric erred in not stepping out to close down. That was calamitous as De Bruyne seized the invitation to thread the ball through, past Kroos, to Bernardo Silva, who steadied himself, disguised where he was shooting and thrashed it past Courtois.
Guardiola turned and roared in celebration, Bernardo having epitomised City's demonic start. They were awesomely relentless as they outpassed, outrun, outfought and outplayed Real. Vinicius Junior trotted over to speak to coach Carlo
Ancelotti. A quarter of the game had gone and the winger had not touched the ball. He looked stunned.
When the Brazilian finally did gain possession and scampered into the City area, there was an intake of breath followed by an explosion of relief as Kyle Walker showed incredible pace to sprint back and take the ball away from him.
It was a warning sign of the threat Real pose, how dangerous they can be, even when apparently overwhelmed. It would only take a moment.
There was another warning. Real worked the ball back to Kroos, who let fly from 25 yards. The shot thumped off the crossbar and it was just the jolt that City needed. They know one goal is never enough against Real. Neither is two. But it is better and so they poured forward, with Jack Grealish shimmying into the area. Ilkay Gundogan's shot was blocked but the ball rebounded up to Bernardo, who smartly guided his header into the net.
To think Bernardo might be on his way this summer, with Paris St-Germain interested and the Portugal international believed to be considering a move. What a potential sign-of f this was turning out to be for him.
In the dugout, Ancelotti drummed his fingers on his chin. It betrayed his feelings. The European champions, despite their incredible powers of recovery, really were up against it here. Any other team would have been even further behind but that felt like scant consolation.
It was breathtaking stuff and Real had the oxygen knocked out of them as City were first to everything and then went again. Like a boxer on the ropes, Real desperately needed the bell and it finally came with the half-time whistle.
Rarely has such a game between two such heavyweight combatants been so one-sided and the only regret for City was that their domi- nance, with 13 shots and 72 per cent possession, had not led to them being even further in front. They undeniably deserved to be.
Real had to be better and were, Ederson tipping over David Alaba's dipping free-kick, and Guardiola was soon crouching in his technical area in concern. This, after all, is
Real, who have rescued even more perilous situations than this and not least in last season's semi-final against City.
The next goal? It felt it was more crucial than ever, as Dani Carvajal rugby-tackled Grealish and then Modric was reduced to bodychecking him. Real were getting desperate and, remarkably, they then substituted Modric. The 37-year-old was struggling but, still, this was Luka Modric, who had held the key so long for the Spanish giants. On came Antonio Rudiger, with Eduardo Camavinga released into midfield. He had found it tough at left-back against Silva.
Courtois denied Haaland for a third time when the striker's shot deflected up and off the bar for a corner. He skipped in frustration but there was soon relief as Manuel Akanji tried to head home De Bruyne's free-kick and the ball flicked off Eder Militao on its way in.
Then in injury time, substitutes Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez combined and the latter slipped in the fourth goal to give the scoreline a more accurate reflection of how one-sided this had been.

 

[lloydie]

Wolves fan here listening to that arrogant Dipper fan not wanting you boys dominating English football- like his lot did? I was screaming at the radio when he was bleating on! Sounded Mancunian? Certainly not Scouse

Anyway congratulations on a truly magnificent performance tonight, one of the best I've seen and loved every minute. Go on and win the treble now and put these whingeing red twats back in their boxes!

Was Lancs, poss Yawks, not Manc.

 

[Eccles Blue]

I'm totally beginning to thoroughly dislike the BBC!!! In the midst of all the praise for last night they have to mention the charges and money.

People without a named father!! You all know the word for them. Talk about bringing me back to earth. I dislike, dislike, dislike them.





Sorry for the bad language.

 

[journolud]

Ooh, "Hard power", titter, titter.

I like Jonathan Liew's writing. "On the biggest stage, in their favourite competition, the most dominant club in Champions League history had been placed under intolerable levels of stress, and simply detonated."

Manchester City’s inexorable hard power crushes Real Madrid | Jonathan Liew

Pep Guardiola’s side have the perfection of a finely executed military campaign, the perfection of wealth and strength

www.theguardian.com

He’s capable of writing well which makes it even more of a shame that he resorts to the lazy rubbish he does

 

[W11Nchenko]

****

ugh thanks for reminding me why i skip the punditry

i know it's a well-paid and somewhat prestigious job, but tbh i feel bad for abdo, one irritating arrogant pillock (henry) + four absolute fucking nobheads, it's like babysitting a bunch of 9-year-olds on testosterone, you're ex-pros you should be there to offer insight and analysis not piss about

i've seen occasional snippets one or two (crouch, keane) get the humour about right although neither my cup of tea, but that guff right there one of the biggest games of the year is a complete disgrace to sports broadcasting

 

[Gorton_Tubster]

It was a seismic shift in attitude towards city last night. That was historic. Thing is we've battered these sort of clubs before but to do it in that style when so much hangs on it and with everyone watching, its really made everyone sit up and actually notice the football we have been playing.

I'v read and heard this teams football being called the pinnacle of the sport, absolute perfection, on a par with the greatest teams of all time. Balague seemed to capture it best without all the bias of English pundits and media :



"Few teams in the history of the game have reached this level. The thing is... they have been there for ages but those that only look at the result might start saying that of Pep's City now they are heading to a second Champions League final.

With the display we have just seen, it would have been a shame if it wasn't reflected by the result. One of the best team performances I have ever witnessed.

And to get 11 players on the pitch to think the same way, to perform for each other, following an idea and adding their own personality... Now that is the hardest thing."


----------------


"4-0 tells you what happened and it could have been even worse than that. I would go as far as to say this is one of the best team performances I have ever seen. One of the top 10 performances ever."

Despite all the domestic success since Guardiola's arrival, there have remained question's around Manchester City in Europe's top competition, but Balague feels that has changed now.

"It is so difficult to have 11 players that think exactly the same way. Following an idea, a leader, that themselves will just add their personality because this team not only has a way of playing now, they also have a huge personality," he said.

"It was anger from Manchester City in the first half especially, saying 'we'll show you, we'll beat you', then after 2-0 it was not only 'we'll beat you' it was 'we'll kill you', then after three it was 'we haven't finished with you' and this was what we saw.

"[It was] historic on so many levels."

 

[mad4city]

... I was still nervous on 85 mins & 3 up shows I’m still scarred by Cityitus...

Me too.
Long-Term Cityitus is a curse. There's a few if us who still can't shake it.

 

[Claytop]

BT commentary was good last night I thought, Fletch seemed genuinely excited when we got the first.

Did Drury commentate on it anywhere? I imagine that would be a good listen.

 

[paulchapo]

Ha ha! Why is this reptile allowed in our ground though?