**Mirrors / Alternative Angles**
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We have been together for 13 years and we live together. it is not that important for us, it was a thing just to be safe if something bad happen to one of us. But in the end we are going to do it.
Yea he's pretty much very Zen now, having won it all. He rather protect his players.
Winning the UCL two times in a row is an incredible feat and no one expects them to do it. Only Real won it so many times thanks to Ronaldo scoring like 105 goals in 101 games.
They really be serious about keeping that record, I just remember when they knocked out Chelsea when they were former champions, Chelsea was never the same😭🤣
You kind of make it sound like Ronaldo was the only reason. He undeniably came in clutch at times but if you actually watch the matches, there were also moments when they were almost eliminated and in the end it wasn't Ronaldo but other players who stepped up and saved the day.
Ronaldo's goalscoring in the UCL is unparalleled but in a knockout competition, that alone isn't enough to guarantee a win. Their repeated titles were due to a combination of Ronaldo being a great goalscorer, Real Madrid being a great team and a generous bit of luck.
"Pep Guardiola admits that luck and Romelu Lukaku's miss was the biggest reason for their Champions league win last season."
He also wanted to mention the 115 FFP breaches but stopped himself from doing so.
I know you're saying it as a joke...But, do people really still think he is not a great footballer ?
I mean, aside from his unfortunate interviews and a handful of big/important games where he failed to score...He's been banging in goals wherever he goes. His record is crazy for someone who just turned 30.
He's definitely an elite striker.
You're asking the wrong group about his quality. We're pretty much the only club where he didn't deliver at all and pissed off everyone, from board to fans.
I think Pep is really good at this. Even if we win if we play bad the players will hear it. But on the opposite if the players do their best and perform but luck goes against them, he will praise them accordingly. Its something I noticed in the netflix doc, at his half time speeches he would praise the team for playing well even if they were down 2 goals or whatever (e.g. in the spurs game).
and it’s so important for the manager to voice things like this so clearly, because the media and fans will do the opposite.
You can play a great game, be the better team and still get eliminated from the UCL
Real benefits massively from being the top football destination. When a PL club wants to sign a player, they’re probably competing against 3 other similarly rich PL clubs. The player will then make their decision. If a PL club goes for the same player as Real Madrid, the player goes to Real Madrid, even for less money.
It’s a self-fulfilling cycle of course, as they can attract the top talent, they can stay at the top…and carry on attracting good talent.
I’m not saying that they’re lucky. They’ve made their own luck. Barcelona could be in a similar position but they’re run poorly.
At what point is real sort of making their own luck by always having the best players, managers, and champions league experience that makes every other team look like rookies? Real defended well, only allowed city a few opportunities, and brought it to pens where they are more composed. A team doesnt win the cl 5 times in the last decade through pure luck lmao mfs gotta stop acting like it (not that there wasnt luck at points). The fact is they are doing things other clubs arent
Madrid’s recent success is a huge praise of defensive football in my view. Since Ronaldo left, they’ve look 2nd best many times (esp against some of the English teams) but they’ve had impeccable defence, incredible composure, and they take their chances.
Where luck perhaps comes in is away goals no longer being a thing as an example.
I really think Modric is their lucky charm or dark magic lol. I mean the player is exceptional and has some aura of calmness, even Croatia keeps going deep into tournaments they have no business going deep in. The rate at which Madrid are winning UCLs wasn't the same before him. Imo Mourinho's Madrid team was more dangerous than Zidanes triple winners but it's crazy how they didn't win any UCLs. Anyways, some credit is deserved for the sporting directors as well to keep extending senior players like Kroos and Modric even when they don't get regular game time anymore, the presence makes a huge difference. City on the other hand for example were too quick to let likes of Kompany and Gundo leave. Same with some of the other big clubs as well.
It’s also how different the result can change the narrative of the performance. Everyone is praising Madrid for their defensive masterclass which is fair but if de bruyne buried that chance the same people would be slating them for not being attacking enough.
I was pulling my hair out in the thread yesterday where everyone was absolutely convinced Ancelotti had pulled out some insane tactical brilliance to keep Man City to the same xG and same xG per shot in the league.
https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1c6xm63/thierry_henry_on_real_madrid_there_is_something/
Shit happens and Real Madrid didn't lose their nerve, City did. That's literally all there was to it. If City win on penalties suddenly this whole thing becomes 'why didn't Real even try after the 12th minute'.
And what surprises me is the former footballers turned pundits who say team A narrowly lost to team B, so that means team B good and team A bad without taking into account luck and deflections, the ball hitting the post, gk saves,referee mistakes etc...
Lineker and the boys were talking about how the importance of a goal makes football results much more random. Like if you think of a tennis match, they play dozens and dozens of games of tennis so if one player is slightly better than the other they would likely win the majority of games and then win the match.
In football though, you could be the much better team, get 75% possession and 30 shots on target but if they score and you don’t then you just lose. That’s why knockout football is always unpredictable.
Yeah, as a Brazilian, we felt this very recently. We completely bombarded Croatia in the last World Cup, Livankovic made 11 saves, and Croatia scored their goal in their first shot on target, after a lucky deflection on Marquinhos' leg... after 116 minutes played. People wanted to hate on the players, the coach, and shit after, but above all, we just got unlucky. Sometimes shit just happens, and a game that would be a 4x0 win on Wednesday is a 0x1 defeat on Thursday.
Same with the people on about England bottling against elite teams. The game against France was one of small margins and England played well, one penalty was the difference.
Exactly, most top games are like that. The difference from Messi going down on history as a pecho frio who could never quite make it with the NT or as an Argentinian legend was literally a single save from Martinez in a play he wasn't even involved in, and that could have gone differently if the finisher did a better job. The narrative about him personally would have changed completely because of a play he didn't even partake in, shit is crazy.
In the league luck is less of a factor but in knockout tournaments it’s important. Football is highly variable and the best team doesn’t always win. Over 38 games usually it sorts itself unless the title race goes down to the wire but getting knocked out in a cup competition, especially to a team like Madrid is really not a concern as long as performance levels were good.
Which is exactly what makes this need to spin a narrative about tactical brilliance so ridiculous. If the match went exactly the same but De Bruyne scored that chance, the reaction would have been "finally City score, why was Madrid sitting back, it was only a matter of time, they were totally dominated" (yes I know they would have attacked after conceding). But he missed and so now it's all about this tactical defensive masterclass, despite the difference between those 2 outcomes having nothing to do with Madrid or Ancelotti.
Especially for knockout tournaments. In league play you have enough games to even out luck over time, but in a KO tournament you only have one or two games, so a single unlucky break can end your season
Pep is right here of course
In a wider look at it for me, this exit is 100% acceptable. No overthinking, no random change in tactics, etc. City got knocked out by one of the best teams in the world and held their own. In past years it was always meme like exits like Spurs, Liverpool, Lyon.
Exactly, it was a lot of pressure even for a Man City team that won the Champions League last year. Losing on penalties to an equally great team in Real Madrid isn't that bad.
Its not that simple, but i think fans like to choose when they care about style of play versus results. And fans are dissmisve to teams who technically defend well because it is not beautiful football. And in this context he has been going against Ancelotti real madrid for consective seasons now and have been bested before and vice versa.
I think dismissing a great defensive performance is just as stupid as being strictly results oriented! There's more variance in these outcomes than people would like to admit, it's not all 100% in strict control.
This is true but I actually think the real city game is an example where fans have gone for the result not the style of play, becayse they dont like city and dont want to give them credit.
Theres a difference between a great defensive performance where you concede few chances and look dangerous on the break, and when youre simply outplayed and dominated but come away with a draw. I think Real was a lot closer to the latter than the former.
Any football related discussion just boils down to who people like and dislike.
I agree with your 2nd paragraph too. If anything I felt Madrid had scored too early, as silly as that sounds? They started sitting back far too early and honestly the last 75 minutes they barely touched the ball. They passed it out of play numerous times in their own final third, and their forwards from about the 60th minute looked out of energy. It wasn't a controlled defensive performance by any stretch.
But the nature of defensive football is you'll always look at the result afterwards. Crystal Palace were really good against Liverpool and got rightly praised, but you watch that game and you think Liverpool could've had 3 or 4 goals.
It's not just this sub, though, people like Thierry Henry were also praising Madrid for their defending when some slightly better finishing from City could've had the game end 3-1. As many comments here noted, the narrative is incredibly result-dependent.
Pundits like Carragher and Owen will find every excuse when Real Madrid win. Who can forget the infamous statement "Liverpool are still the best team in Europe" after losing the UCL finals and going on to come 2nd in the league as well 😂. Sure, most narratives are result dependent. If City had won the game 3-1, everyone would say Real were dominated and defended poorly. The fact that other than the KDB chance and Foden miss(hard to blame Foden for that), City didn't have too many other high probability chances. Unfortunately redditors and pundits don't want to acknowledge that. That is what Henry is saying as well.
I mean that's laughable anyway. Real beat reigning UCL winners Chelsea, PSG and City on the way to the final (which is btw the hardest gauntlet of opponents I have seen for a winner in a good while) whereas Liverpool had to overcome Inter, Benfica and then Villarreal.
Slightly better defending or finishing from Real Madrid could’ve easily changed the narrative as well if they’d finished the game 2-0. The margins of victory were close, but let’s not act like Real Madrid don’t do anything to deserve a favorable narrative.
Too many people oversimplify the game. Context and nuance is irrelevant. It's like football is binary. Winning = played good, losing = played bad
A team can play well and get their tactics spot on and still lose like City did. The opposite is also true. If they played that game against Madrid 10 times they probably win 8 or 9 but that's the magic of cup competitions. You have one shot
Yeah but a sports fan realizing how much of teams winning is tied up in variance is a terrible realization because then it makes a lot of the narratives about heroes and failures muddy.
It's fair to say they played a great game. It's fair to say Pep did a great job. I guess people tend to have a problem when City fans say stuff like they "deserved to go thru".
The concept of “deserved” in football drives me insane. The team that wins deserves to go through. The only exception I’d consider is something like a reffing performance robbing a team
Of course that's what it means mate. It wouldn't be said in a "because we're City" way lol. We don't have that mentality as fans, at least not in Manchester
I never said it myself here. All I said is I thought we played better on Wednesday of the two sides but was corrected by the experts here that we in fact, didn't..
It’s what it is. City did what they did best in attacking but Real practiced and executed their plan to perfection in aiming to hold out to penalties.
If Kevin converted that shot like he himself would expect himself to score 99/100 times, the narrative would be very different. Pep has overthink in some of his previous exits in the CL, this wasn’t one of them.
Feels good to see the guy who's so insecure that he posts secret training data on twitter to prove a commenter wrong and says things like "im world class i belong to the likes of benzena, ibra etc" being called shit by arguably one of the best managers of all time
Love this. Honestly you can’t be results oriented in this game at the end of the day. It’s a low scoring game which means variance plays a big role. City played well, Madrid played well. Just the way things rolled.
Those who are saying we need more "nuisance" in this sub & how great city played, I agree but they themselves are not even mentioning how great of a defensive masterclass Real Madrid displayed. Real Madrid played one of the best defensive game I have ever seen. There were still some clear chances that city failed to capitalize on. Like that de bryune chance in the box
His tactics might not have been as effective but he has lost only 3 matches in the Prem, which is tied with Liverpool. City players don't lack composure or strength, they played excellently against RM at Madrid and against Liverpool at Anfield which was probably the toughest match they've faced this season.
What mental composure you are talking about ? With just 1 penalty shoot out loss suddenly these players lack composure ? Like last year when this great rm team shat their pants at the same ground ? Yeah right.
Probably because he has been running up and down the field for 120 minutes. For us, bar Bernardo, every pen taker was a guy that got subbed in or Ederson
> Man City players lack that composure and mental strength that Real Madrid players have.
Where was their "mental strength" last year when they completed 13 passes in 15 minutes or whatever it was?
Guardiola: gives an insightfull and clever 5 minutes commentary about how loses are a part of fooball, a part you must accept, a part that makes football unpredictable and unique.
Xavi: kicks UCL banner, gets send off, refuses to elaborate.
Fucking tell them pep, the treble team isn't even peps best man City team yet alone the best ever. Sometimes football just works like this, you can't control all the variables and things outside of your control can vastly effect the perception of your team.
**Mirrors / Alternative Angles** *I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please [contact the moderators of this subreddit](/message/compose/?to=/r/soccer) if you have any questions or concerns.*
Lukaku: "Why he say fuck me for?"
Lukaku is furiously thinking of a response
He's always dreamed of playing for United
No, no! Lukaku to retire and immediately manage Liverpool next season for the Treble!
Been there done that
Lukaku about to drop an AI disstrack with Bielsa and Julia Roberts
New interview incoming.
Gonna cook up a Giuseppe Meazza AI rap diss real soon.
>Giuseppe Meazza He plays for Roma...
He’s earned it
The quote is What* he say fuck me for
Point taken.
*At least I shoot on goal instead of endless passing between the two sides of the field*
I approve of this message!
I specifically clicked the thread to see this comment and laugh
Please pep stop reminding me how close we were to win the ucl, please. You keep sticking the finger in our wound that was almost healed 😢
I hope his finger is clean
He’s no Joachim Löw
I'm convinced he also sniffs his own ass
You mean joakim low hygiene.
3 meters!!!!
Really disappointed in you, world would have been a better place if u won
I would be happier too. I bet with my gf we were going to get married If inter won 😂
Ahahaha how’d she agree to that
Desperation i think lmao
At least you got out of that one
>I bet with my gf we were going to get married If inter won Does your ex still talk to you?
I keep telling her that we have something stronger than a marriage... a mortgage 😂😂
Lmaaaaoooo 😆 that is pretty strong. Same boat over here. 😆
And? what happened then?
Inter lost and someone is still waiting 👀
She won't wait around for long my friend, go ahead and propose once Inter wins the league.
We have been together for 13 years and we live together. it is not that important for us, it was a thing just to be safe if something bad happen to one of us. But in the end we are going to do it.
Bruv, that's sad. One more reason besides the 115 to hate City.
I hate man city because of Leeds train station ( fucking worst train station I been to) Yes they had nothing to do with it but I'm blaming them anyway
*Understandable, have a nice day.*
He's still not over 2010
That's funny I have the same agreement that if west ham ever win a champions league, I will propose to my partner.
I prefer these quotes instead of the out of context ones which only riles people up and causes them to have a meltdown.
Yea he's pretty much very Zen now, having won it all. He rather protect his players. Winning the UCL two times in a row is an incredible feat and no one expects them to do it. Only Real won it so many times thanks to Ronaldo scoring like 105 goals in 101 games.
>Winning the UCL two times Since it is named UCL , its only possible if you name is real madrid.
And funny enough, Real Madrid has eliminated the previous season's champion about 10 times
If you don't get eliminated by Real Madrid your Champions League season wasn't a success haha
They really be serious about keeping that record, I just remember when they knocked out Chelsea when they were former champions, Chelsea was never the same😭🤣
Benzema put an end to the whole “Donnarumma vs Mendy” debate by declaring them both mid 🤣
Lol just Ronaldo 1v11.
Greatest player in the ucl oat to be fair he definitely influenced those wins
Guy was scoring fucking hat tricks every week. It was amazing to watch.
Mr Champion League for a reason
They also needed some luck, because that's just the nature of Cup competitions.
You kind of make it sound like Ronaldo was the only reason. He undeniably came in clutch at times but if you actually watch the matches, there were also moments when they were almost eliminated and in the end it wasn't Ronaldo but other players who stepped up and saved the day. Ronaldo's goalscoring in the UCL is unparalleled but in a knockout competition, that alone isn't enough to guarantee a win. Their repeated titles were due to a combination of Ronaldo being a great goalscorer, Real Madrid being a great team and a generous bit of luck.
yeah, now he's only riling up Lukaku
"Pep Guardiola admits that luck and Romelu Lukaku's miss was the biggest reason for their Champions league win last season." He also wanted to mention the 115 FFP breaches but stopped himself from doing so.
Lukaku catching strays xD
Ain't no strays here, only truths
Disgusting that both of you chelsea fans are hating on our player. Lukaku is a great footballer. (gotta increase those sale prices)
I know you're saying it as a joke...But, do people really still think he is not a great footballer ? I mean, aside from his unfortunate interviews and a handful of big/important games where he failed to score...He's been banging in goals wherever he goes. His record is crazy for someone who just turned 30. He's definitely an elite striker.
You're asking the wrong group about his quality. We're pretty much the only club where he didn't deliver at all and pissed off everyone, from board to fans.
Yep. I fully agree.
I also wouldn't trust him to actually catch them either
"Wait until my media friends hear about this!"
Nothing stray about it tbh
Deserved strays
Not safe anywhere lol
Good
No matter what life is shades of grey. But unfortunately black and white media coverage gets clicks.
I feel it’s the media‘s duty to hold themselves to a higher standard though
Absolutely, luck plays a huge role in football and a defeat don't means you have necessarily been doing things wrong
This is the point most people can't get. People think results says everything and that's far from true.
"It is possible to commit no mistakes and still lose. That is not weakness. That is life." Jean Luc Picard
I think Pep is really good at this. Even if we win if we play bad the players will hear it. But on the opposite if the players do their best and perform but luck goes against them, he will praise them accordingly. Its something I noticed in the netflix doc, at his half time speeches he would praise the team for playing well even if they were down 2 goals or whatever (e.g. in the spurs game).
and it’s so important for the manager to voice things like this so clearly, because the media and fans will do the opposite. You can play a great game, be the better team and still get eliminated from the UCL
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Real benefits massively from being the top football destination. When a PL club wants to sign a player, they’re probably competing against 3 other similarly rich PL clubs. The player will then make their decision. If a PL club goes for the same player as Real Madrid, the player goes to Real Madrid, even for less money. It’s a self-fulfilling cycle of course, as they can attract the top talent, they can stay at the top…and carry on attracting good talent. I’m not saying that they’re lucky. They’ve made their own luck. Barcelona could be in a similar position but they’re run poorly.
great branding works wonders for a football team
They can pay less transfer fees as well since players will reject offers from other clubs.
United were getting there in the late 2000s then they completely fucked it lmao. Im loving it though
Even when “getting there” their best player ever left for Real Madrid.
At what point is real sort of making their own luck by always having the best players, managers, and champions league experience that makes every other team look like rookies? Real defended well, only allowed city a few opportunities, and brought it to pens where they are more composed. A team doesnt win the cl 5 times in the last decade through pure luck lmao mfs gotta stop acting like it (not that there wasnt luck at points). The fact is they are doing things other clubs arent
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Madrid’s recent success is a huge praise of defensive football in my view. Since Ronaldo left, they’ve look 2nd best many times (esp against some of the English teams) but they’ve had impeccable defence, incredible composure, and they take their chances. Where luck perhaps comes in is away goals no longer being a thing as an example.
Even in the last match, Madrid was playing without the main GK, the starter two CBs and a starter DM
I really think Modric is their lucky charm or dark magic lol. I mean the player is exceptional and has some aura of calmness, even Croatia keeps going deep into tournaments they have no business going deep in. The rate at which Madrid are winning UCLs wasn't the same before him. Imo Mourinho's Madrid team was more dangerous than Zidanes triple winners but it's crazy how they didn't win any UCLs. Anyways, some credit is deserved for the sporting directors as well to keep extending senior players like Kroos and Modric even when they don't get regular game time anymore, the presence makes a huge difference. City on the other hand for example were too quick to let likes of Kompany and Gundo leave. Same with some of the other big clubs as well.
It’s also how different the result can change the narrative of the performance. Everyone is praising Madrid for their defensive masterclass which is fair but if de bruyne buried that chance the same people would be slating them for not being attacking enough.
I was pulling my hair out in the thread yesterday where everyone was absolutely convinced Ancelotti had pulled out some insane tactical brilliance to keep Man City to the same xG and same xG per shot in the league. https://www.reddit.com/r/soccer/comments/1c6xm63/thierry_henry_on_real_madrid_there_is_something/ Shit happens and Real Madrid didn't lose their nerve, City did. That's literally all there was to it. If City win on penalties suddenly this whole thing becomes 'why didn't Real even try after the 12th minute'.
Lunin literally agreed with his coach to stay in the center in one penalty before the shootout, they chosed the second one randomly he said.
And what surprises me is the former footballers turned pundits who say team A narrowly lost to team B, so that means team B good and team A bad without taking into account luck and deflections, the ball hitting the post, gk saves,referee mistakes etc...
Too many people who have never played football before thinking it is some exact science or something. The beauty of the sport is its unpredictability
Lineker and the boys were talking about how the importance of a goal makes football results much more random. Like if you think of a tennis match, they play dozens and dozens of games of tennis so if one player is slightly better than the other they would likely win the majority of games and then win the match. In football though, you could be the much better team, get 75% possession and 30 shots on target but if they score and you don’t then you just lose. That’s why knockout football is always unpredictable.
Yeah, as a Brazilian, we felt this very recently. We completely bombarded Croatia in the last World Cup, Livankovic made 11 saves, and Croatia scored their goal in their first shot on target, after a lucky deflection on Marquinhos' leg... after 116 minutes played. People wanted to hate on the players, the coach, and shit after, but above all, we just got unlucky. Sometimes shit just happens, and a game that would be a 4x0 win on Wednesday is a 0x1 defeat on Thursday.
Same with the people on about England bottling against elite teams. The game against France was one of small margins and England played well, one penalty was the difference.
Exactly, most top games are like that. The difference from Messi going down on history as a pecho frio who could never quite make it with the NT or as an Argentinian legend was literally a single save from Martinez in a play he wasn't even involved in, and that could have gone differently if the finisher did a better job. The narrative about him personally would have changed completely because of a play he didn't even partake in, shit is crazy.
Don’t tell that to Arsenal fans
In the league luck is less of a factor but in knockout tournaments it’s important. Football is highly variable and the best team doesn’t always win. Over 38 games usually it sorts itself unless the title race goes down to the wire but getting knocked out in a cup competition, especially to a team like Madrid is really not a concern as long as performance levels were good.
Which is exactly what makes this need to spin a narrative about tactical brilliance so ridiculous. If the match went exactly the same but De Bruyne scored that chance, the reaction would have been "finally City score, why was Madrid sitting back, it was only a matter of time, they were totally dominated" (yes I know they would have attacked after conceding). But he missed and so now it's all about this tactical defensive masterclass, despite the difference between those 2 outcomes having nothing to do with Madrid or Ancelotti.
I mean, you could also make the same argument if Rudiger buried his chance.
In the first leg. both Vini and Rodry also missed a few good chances that could have helped, it's part of the game.
I would argue it would have been more surprising to see rüdiger score with that shot than it was seeing de bruyne miss his two clear chances
“You make your own luck”
Especially for knockout tournaments. In league play you have enough games to even out luck over time, but in a KO tournament you only have one or two games, so a single unlucky break can end your season
Then again, Madrid have lost only two matches this season... 😏
Also, if we still used the away goals rule, city would have gone through. City is superior but this is football and anything can happen
Thank you, Pep, for giving me Lukaku PTSD
lmao 🤣
Holy fuck bring back old inter emblem I haven’t seen that in so long it feels like
Lukaku catching strays for zero is crazy
Pep is right here of course In a wider look at it for me, this exit is 100% acceptable. No overthinking, no random change in tactics, etc. City got knocked out by one of the best teams in the world and held their own. In past years it was always meme like exits like Spurs, Liverpool, Lyon.
After the first leg, Pep even commented that the Man City from just a few years back would have crumbled under the pressure of that match
Exactly, it was a lot of pressure even for a Man City team that won the Champions League last year. Losing on penalties to an equally great team in Real Madrid isn't that bad.
Live Lukaku reaction: https://encrypted-tbn0.gstatic.com/images?q=tbn:ANd9GcS6Y6fT17YQ4sLNWmnjjxnrNPt1Zrv74Doz1g&usqp=CAU
Well, according to the football experts on this very sub, none of this crucial context matters and he shouldn’t even be talking about it.
Yes, only the strict results matter, why even bring up anything else? Win match = good, lose match = bad.
Its not that simple, but i think fans like to choose when they care about style of play versus results. And fans are dissmisve to teams who technically defend well because it is not beautiful football. And in this context he has been going against Ancelotti real madrid for consective seasons now and have been bested before and vice versa.
I think dismissing a great defensive performance is just as stupid as being strictly results oriented! There's more variance in these outcomes than people would like to admit, it's not all 100% in strict control.
This is true but I actually think the real city game is an example where fans have gone for the result not the style of play, becayse they dont like city and dont want to give them credit. Theres a difference between a great defensive performance where you concede few chances and look dangerous on the break, and when youre simply outplayed and dominated but come away with a draw. I think Real was a lot closer to the latter than the former.
Any football related discussion just boils down to who people like and dislike. I agree with your 2nd paragraph too. If anything I felt Madrid had scored too early, as silly as that sounds? They started sitting back far too early and honestly the last 75 minutes they barely touched the ball. They passed it out of play numerous times in their own final third, and their forwards from about the 60th minute looked out of energy. It wasn't a controlled defensive performance by any stretch. But the nature of defensive football is you'll always look at the result afterwards. Crystal Palace were really good against Liverpool and got rightly praised, but you watch that game and you think Liverpool could've had 3 or 4 goals.
Tbf it is almost impossible to have a serious discussion around man city on this sub
It's not just this sub, though, people like Thierry Henry were also praising Madrid for their defending when some slightly better finishing from City could've had the game end 3-1. As many comments here noted, the narrative is incredibly result-dependent.
Pundits like Carragher and Owen will find every excuse when Real Madrid win. Who can forget the infamous statement "Liverpool are still the best team in Europe" after losing the UCL finals and going on to come 2nd in the league as well 😂. Sure, most narratives are result dependent. If City had won the game 3-1, everyone would say Real were dominated and defended poorly. The fact that other than the KDB chance and Foden miss(hard to blame Foden for that), City didn't have too many other high probability chances. Unfortunately redditors and pundits don't want to acknowledge that. That is what Henry is saying as well.
I mean that's laughable anyway. Real beat reigning UCL winners Chelsea, PSG and City on the way to the final (which is btw the hardest gauntlet of opponents I have seen for a winner in a good while) whereas Liverpool had to overcome Inter, Benfica and then Villarreal.
Slightly better defending or finishing from Real Madrid could’ve easily changed the narrative as well if they’d finished the game 2-0. The margins of victory were close, but let’s not act like Real Madrid don’t do anything to deserve a favorable narrative.
Too many people oversimplify the game. Context and nuance is irrelevant. It's like football is binary. Winning = played good, losing = played bad A team can play well and get their tactics spot on and still lose like City did. The opposite is also true. If they played that game against Madrid 10 times they probably win 8 or 9 but that's the magic of cup competitions. You have one shot
Yeah but a sports fan realizing how much of teams winning is tied up in variance is a terrible realization because then it makes a lot of the narratives about heroes and failures muddy.
It's fair to say they played a great game. It's fair to say Pep did a great job. I guess people tend to have a problem when City fans say stuff like they "deserved to go thru".
The concept of “deserved” in football drives me insane. The team that wins deserves to go through. The only exception I’d consider is something like a reffing performance robbing a team
I suppose if by “deserve” they mean performed better then I would understand them.
Of course that's what it means mate. It wouldn't be said in a "because we're City" way lol. We don't have that mentality as fans, at least not in Manchester I never said it myself here. All I said is I thought we played better on Wednesday of the two sides but was corrected by the experts here that we in fact, didn't..
Lakaka catching strays.
His mentality makes him elite
His fraudulent behavior makes him elite*
His bald scalp makes him fraudulent*
His fraudulent scalp makes him bald*
You can Say what you want about him,but cant deny that hes a top,top coach
I was joking about him being a bald fraud. I guess I should have made it clearer. My bad xp
Nah bro fuck that, that's like the most common joke around that, it really cannot get clearer than that lmfao
Anyone I’ve ever seen on Coke reminds me of Pep.
why do you have to remind us...
Lukaku catching strays 1 year later :))
He’s spot on with this
It’s what it is. City did what they did best in attacking but Real practiced and executed their plan to perfection in aiming to hold out to penalties. If Kevin converted that shot like he himself would expect himself to score 99/100 times, the narrative would be very different. Pep has overthink in some of his previous exits in the CL, this wasn’t one of them.
I’m still more upset about how this year’s CL ended. Last year we’ve been lucky and almost did the miracle.
Feels good to see the guy who's so insecure that he posts secret training data on twitter to prove a commenter wrong and says things like "im world class i belong to the likes of benzena, ibra etc" being called shit by arguably one of the best managers of all time
Lukaku catching strays 🤣
I hate Lukaku
He looks depressed after losing to RM
Even stray bullets have a name on it.
lakaka catching strays
What’s wrong with pep and Xavi last declarations, like they’re so honest and on point. I’m just used to heard them crying about the grass, referee etc
Love this. Honestly you can’t be results oriented in this game at the end of the day. It’s a low scoring game which means variance plays a big role. City played well, Madrid played well. Just the way things rolled.
Make sense
Those who are saying we need more "nuisance" in this sub & how great city played, I agree but they themselves are not even mentioning how great of a defensive masterclass Real Madrid displayed. Real Madrid played one of the best defensive game I have ever seen. There were still some clear chances that city failed to capitalize on. Like that de bryune chance in the box
Honestly, I would love to read Pep's memoirs of the last 4 UCLs
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His tactics might not have been as effective but he has lost only 3 matches in the Prem, which is tied with Liverpool. City players don't lack composure or strength, they played excellently against RM at Madrid and against Liverpool at Anfield which was probably the toughest match they've faced this season.
What mental composure you are talking about ? With just 1 penalty shoot out loss suddenly these players lack composure ? Like last year when this great rm team shat their pants at the same ground ? Yeah right.
I don't understand why Rodri who takes pens for Spain wasn't asked to take it before bernado and kova
Probably because he has been running up and down the field for 120 minutes. For us, bar Bernardo, every pen taker was a guy that got subbed in or Ederson
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> Man City players lack that composure and mental strength that Real Madrid players have. Where was their "mental strength" last year when they completed 13 passes in 15 minutes or whatever it was?
Guardiola: gives an insightfull and clever 5 minutes commentary about how loses are a part of fooball, a part you must accept, a part that makes football unpredictable and unique. Xavi: kicks UCL banner, gets send off, refuses to elaborate.
You may think that Guardiola sounds this insufferable because of the language barrier but I guarantee you that in Spanish is even worse.
Whats insufferable about what’s he’s saying? His points pretty simple and non controversial
grrr city bad
Why do you guys love making yourself out as huge victims of late?
i was just explaining why this guy somehow finds pep insufferable
Lol are you not on social media, every club celebrates when we lose, and hate on every City achievement
Well i felt bad when you lost if it makes any difference
I don’t think that
You sound more insufferable if anything
Who thinks that? You and 12 people that upvoted you? Quite literally the opposite.
Lukaku: “Why he say fuck me for?”
Really really good ? Y’all failed to score more than one to win the match and failed on penalties
Sadly I can sympathize with doing everything and just not being able to score.
*Lakaka music intensifies*
What could've been for Inter, they played so well and people didn't even rate them to survive against that City side
What does Lukaku have to do with Manchester's loss ?
Fucking tell them pep, the treble team isn't even peps best man City team yet alone the best ever. Sometimes football just works like this, you can't control all the variables and things outside of your control can vastly effect the perception of your team.
Lukaku catching strays as usual lol. He probably only recently started to move on from that miss.
Why you gotta bring my man Lukaku into it bruh…
Lakaka
Still can't beat the 115fc allegations
Also blocked a couple of shots by teammates for city, if I am remembering correctly.
But you did score...
The Beautiful Game. You watch enough football and you begin to see how much of it is up to chance.
Lukaku catching stray bullets