Manchester City have won the 2023 UEFA Super Cup after beating Sevilla 5-4 on penalties and lifting their fourth trophy of the year. Huge.
Pep Guardiola and his squad were given a pretty early shock to the system after the Europa League champions took the lead in the 25th minute thanks to a thumping header from Youssef En-Nesyri.
The 26-year-old Morrocan forward was the same man who dumped Man United out of Europe in the semi-finals back in April after scoring twice and his goal was enough to send the Spaniards into half-time 1-0 up at the Karaiskakis Stadium in Athens.
Sevilla nearly made it 2-0 around five minutes into the second half following an impressive counter-attack which was only foiled by an even more impressive save from Ederson. However, as they virtually always do, Man City soon reacted and found their foothold through Cole Palmer‘s equaliser. At it again.
Great instinct to arrive at the back post when even Haaland wasn’t quite in the right place.
Powering home a header of his own, the Wythenshawe-born youngster who scored the opener in City’s Community Shield defeat against Arsenal got Pep’s team back on level terms in the 63rd minute — what a great few months it’s been for him, having won the U21 Euros with England last month.
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After drawing things up, City started to display more of the fluid football that we’ve seen so much from them in recent years and which helped them win the treble back in June, with 21-year-old Palmer himself being at the centre of a lot of it and nearly grabbing a second just moments later.
Despite having to do without the creative nouse of Kevin de Bruyne, who has now been ruled out for up to four months and could quite probably miss the rest of the year/first half of the new season, the Blues started making a few more chances and turning the screw.
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However, Sevilla were still well and truly in the game, regularly threatening on the break and the longer the game went on, the more it looked like it would go to penalties — and it did. Thankfully for Pep, they managed to get over the line and win the shootout. Here’s the moment they won it:
Both sides delivered a truly incredible set of penalties but it was Nemanja Gudelj’s miss that stung the bar and sealed it for the Manchester side. A second European trophy in just a few months for City, the fourth piece of silverware in 2023 and a fourth Super Cup at a record-three clubs for Pep in his career.
They might have been favourites heading into the match but the opposition certainly didn’t make it easy for them and any team would have found it hard to make it past Sevilla, but they did. Treble-winners and even more emphatic champions of European than before. Not a bad start to the 2023/24 season, is it?
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Meanwhile, earlier today one of their treble-winning squad members reportedly agreed to depart from the Etihad after five years as the club is said to have accepted an offer for defender Aymeric Laporte.
We don’t expect it’ll hold them back from winning even more trophies this season.
Featured Image — Manchester City/TNT Sports (via Twitter)
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Luxury Manchester gym Blok confirms permanent closure after weeks of uncertainty
Daisy Jackson
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure, weeks after the doors to the premium fitness facility mysteriously closed.
Around a fortnight ago, members began to arrive to their classes to find the gym on Ducie Street locked up and a forfeiture notice on the door – but at the time, Blok said that it was fighting to reopen.
Sadly, in an email sent to members today, its founder has confirmed that the studio is now permanently closed.
Blok – which has several very successful sites down in London – said that its relationship with its landlord has ‘broken down to a point where trust has been lost’.
The gym wrote that it’s been left with ‘no workable way forward’.
They said: “BLOK Manchester was a space built by our loyal and dedicated community. Whether you joined us for one class or one hundred, we are deeply grateful. You helped create something genuinely special in an incredible city.”
In the immediate future, they said they’ll be supporting the team of fantastic trainers who worked here, as well as looking after members.
Members will be contacted within a few hours with options and refunds owed.
Blok Manchester has announced its permanent closure. Credit: The Manc Group
CEO and founder Ed Stanbury said: “While this marks the end of a chapter, we don’t see it as the end of our story in Manchester. We’re already speaking with developers about potential future sites and remain committed to returning to the city when the time is right.
“Thank you for being part of our story so far. Let’s shape the future of wellness. The mission continues.”
Commenting on Blok’s Instagram post – its first in almost a fortnight – people have been sharing their sadness at the closure of its Manchester site.
One person wrote: “beautiful space, beautiful staff and beautiful community.”
Another said: “Sending love to all the instructors !! :(((( gutted”
Someone else commented: “THE BEST CLASSES. I’m gutted.”
Manchester City plotting spending spree ‘before’ Club World Cup
Danny Jones
Manchester City are set to embark on somewhat of a spending spree this summer transfer window as the club’s higher-ups are looking to get business done before the 2025 Club World Cup.
With FIFA’s intercontinental club competition set to get underway in mid-June, the Blues don’t have too long to welcome in new players, but Man City chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak has reiterated their urgency regarding recruitment.
Despite having brought in four new acquisitions in a very short space of time last season, the 50-year-old argued that he wasn’t completely happy with the extent and speed of their business.
Giving a lengthy interview this week, CFG‘s founding chairman has imposed an internal deadline ahead of the lucrative knockout competition.
Speaking with club media, Khaldoon recognised that while there were incomings in January of this year, he believes they “should have been more aggressive in some of the changes we needed to do, adding that he believes it “cost [them].”
“I can tell you today, we have clearly identified who exactly [the targets are], in what positions, and we have our clear number one option, our clear number two option”, he continues.
More importantly, he goes on to add: “We’ll go about our business, and it will be very clear, very swift. Our objective is to try to be ready with the new squad for the Club World Cup.”
He also suggested the flurry of activity this past January was not just atypical of the administration, but felt the squad fell into a crisis state with the number of injuries, insisting they “had to act.”
City have already been linked with a hugely talented and highly-rated European target in the wake of Kevin De Bruyne‘s departure and a lack of strength in depth in midfield.
An initial bid is said to have been received already and will likely be the first of many City summer signings.
He also insisted that the players who joined last season weren’t scattershot, emergency transfers (perhaps barring the resigning of İlkay Gündoğan) but were the start of the rebuild and “gives [fans] an idea of what’s coming this summer.”
Another player linked with a move to the Etihad Stadium is Lyon star Rayan Cherki, who scored in big moments during their Europa League run this year, registering 32 goal contributions across all competitions throughout the 24/25 campaign.
Who would you like to see added to Pep Guardiola’s side this summer, then, Man City fans?
You can watch Khaldoon Al Mubarak’s interview in full down below:
Danny Jones -
16th August 2023 
