In case you didn’t hear, Manchester City didn’t just beat Real Madrid last night, they absolutely battered them, booking a place in their second Champions League final just two years on from their last.
Although many might have thought Wayne Rooney’s prediction that Man City would “blow Madrid away” was a bit bold, especially after a much more closely contested first leg, we don’t think anyone was quite expecting the result that Pep Guardiola‘s men delivered on Wednesday evening.
With Bernado Silva putting the Blues 2-0 up with a quickfire double inside 37 minutes before Manuel Akanji and Julián Álvarez rounded off an emphatic 4-0 win, the 13-time European champions looked like a completely different team and basically let the home side romp into the final against Inter Milan.
Moreover, sealing the trip to Istanbul also means that City are now within touching distance of winning a treble. In fact, it’s now so close that despite trying to remain as modest as possible throughout the season, even Pep and his players are starting to admit it’s on their minds.
🗣 "Now the players can visualise it"
Pep Guardiola admits his Manchester City players are thinking about winning the treble 👀pic.twitter.com/XzGqOUmPdO
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) May 18, 2023
Even Pep can’t deny that Manchester City are now dreaming of a treble.
They only need three points from their remaining three games to lift their ninth league title and seventh Premier League in just over a decade, four of those have come under Pep. In fact, even if they only get two more points, they’d still win on goal difference, let alone if Arsenal drop any more themselves.
But what exactly are the chances that the Catalan coach not only lifts his fifth English league title, second FA Cup and third-ever Champions League? Well, if you ask Jamie Carragher, City’s chances were around 75% before the semi-final but are now at 90%.
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Speaking after the game, Jack Grealish said he was too speechless to think about the likelihood but you get the feeling that everyone around the club is now starting to believe it’s going to happen.
— CBS Sports Golazo ⚽️ (@CBSSportsGolazo) May 17, 2023
There are seven teams that have won a ‘proper’ treble of the league title, main domestic cup and European cup in football history — Celtic, Ajax, PSV Eindhoven, Inter Milan; Bayern Munich and Barcelona (twice each) and, of course, Manchester United — and Pep has already done it once back in 2008/09.
Admittedly, Pep did it one of the greatest teams ever assembled, with Messi, Xavi, Iniesta, Busquets and countless other legends at his disposal. On the other hand, many have already described this current City squad in similar terms, boasting some of the most generational talents on the planet right now.
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Furthermore, with them basically a dead cert to win the league as early as this weekend and 2/7 to beat United in the FA Cup final in a couple of week’s time by most bookies’ estimates, it really does just look like a question of whether or not they can go and win their first Champions League trophy.
Many are already calling it ‘their year’ and despite plenty of fans saying that for the last couple of seasons now, most teams that build towards it like City have, gradually progressing further and further each season, do tend to go on and win it. Especially with stats like this:
Man United's 99' season 🆚 Man City's 23' season
◾️ Man City wins ✅ ◾️ Man City points ✅ ◾️ Man City goals scored ✅ ◾️ Man City goals conceded ✅ ◾️ Man United longest unbeaten run ✅
They’re simply an incredible team, no one can deny that. The only thing you could argue is going against them at this late and seriously convincing stage is that Pep has never won the Champions League at any other club than Barcelona, despite coaching one of the best Bayern Munich teams ever.
City have also been an absolute fortress at home, winning every single home match in 2023 and not losing a single UCL game there for five years, but travelling away to another ground for a history-defining match against three-time European champions is an occasion that could get to anyone.
Furthermore, Inter clearly have a lot of experience in this tournament and, who knows, derby days really are a different beast and Erik ten Hag‘s side has already beaten them 2-1 once this year. Then again, the same team did also get spanked by Pep’s lot 6-3 too…
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For many United fans, a lot of the sentiment seems to be that it’s pretty much inevitable now and they just have to start coming to terms with it; whether they like it or not, it’s now just them and Inter that stand in the way. What do you reckon, are City finally going to do it in Europe and maybe even match United’s sacred treble?
Featured Image — Man City (via Twitter)/Dave (via Flickr)
Sport
‘Nothing is eternal’: Is Pep Guardiola hinting at the end of Manchester City’s supremacy?
Danny Jones
Pep Guardiola looks to have suggested that more than a decade of Manchester City’s supremacy and Premier League dominance at the very least might be coming to an end.
Speaking in his post-match press interviews after City were knocked out of the Champions League by serial European Cup winners Real Madrid, Guardiola cut a somewhat more deflated figure than usual following the 3-1 defeat.
A Kylian Mbappe hattrick which was closed out within an hour of play was enough to stretch the aggregate score to 6-3 over the two legs and Madrid doubling their lead across the tie proved yet again why, not unlike City domestically over the last decade, they’re the kings of the continental competition.
In contrast, however, Pep seemed to accept the loss much more easily than perhaps we’ve seen in the past and rather than appearing familiarly frustrated or defiant in the press conference; instead, he seemed rather reflective, responding to one reporter: “Nothing is eternal”.
🗣️ "Nothing is eternal" – Pep Guardiola.
🔵 Subscribe to our Manchester City page on BBC Sounds for the latest interviews. #MCFC#bbcfootball
Insisting that they have to decide whether a significant rebuild is needed to keep competing at the very top level consistently as they have done since the 54-year-old arrived back in 2016, he argued that it is only with that they’ll be able to determine what comes next.
As for the result itself, he made no bones about Carlo Ancelotti’s side having “deserved it”, stating simply that “the best team won” and that fans and players alike have to “accept the reality: they were better.”
Having been a familiar foe for Pep long before he arrived in Manchester, both at Barcelona and Bayern Munich – not to mention City having faced Los Blancos a dozen times before Tuesday night since 2012 – there have been less surprising outcomes for supporters to come to terms with.
“With time, the club and everyone is going to accept what it is but for now we have 30/40 games for the Premier League next season to try and be here [in the Champions League] and to improve. Nothing is eternal”, said the Catalan coaching genius.
On the other hand, he also went on to add that it was merely a reflection on the night itself and not what his team have achieved in recent years.
He went on to remark that “when we were playing outstanding it hurt more” to be knocked out of the UCL when he felt they deserved to stay in it, but still insisted: “We have been unbelievable and we have to try step by step to get better from today.” Tonight just wasn’t the night.
Who knows? Perhaps it was just some more melodrama from a manager with an undeniable flare for pageantry and playing into/in the face of narratives when he doesn’t come out on top – which hasn’t happened all that often until their dip in form this season.
Plus, there’s certainly still plenty for him and the fans to be positive about; not only has the arrival of their ‘Egyptian Prince’ and the media’s Mo Salah successor, Omar Marmoush, got plenty of people excited – especially after that first-half hattrick against Newcastle – but so too have the other January signings.
In fact, for all of his downplaying in this particular presser (which you can hear in full HERE), it felt like there were only upsides after their victory over Newcastle, even going so far as to dub new signing Nico Gonzalez a ‘mini-Rodri‘.
You can watch the highlights from the game down below:
Pep is right, nothing is eternal – but sometimes you just come up against talents like Mbappe and there’s very little anyone can do about it.
Sale Sharks sign highly-rated Harlequins hooker, Nathan Jibulu
Danny Jones
Sale Sharks are investing in youth with their latest bit of transfer business after signing one of the Harlequins’ hottest prospects, Nathan Jibulu.
The highly-rated hooker, who has already nine appearances this season, including more than half a dozen in the Gallagher Premiership, has been exciting plenty of scouts throughout rugby union and is already firmly in national team plans.
Having already been part of the England Under-20 and A squads, not to mention impressing at club level in a relatively short space of time, it’s a big coup for Sale.
From the Quins academy to the right side of Shark-infested waters.
Jibulu joined the Twickenham-based outfit back in 2022 just a year after they won their second English championship (a full decade since their first) after previously attending Seaford College and representing nearby Wimbledon Warriors.
However, now the six-foot and seriously strong forward will be swapping the life near the capital for the North and Greater Manchester, specifically.
Set to join Sale Sharks for the 2025/26 season – scheduled to kick off in September – he’s looking like a really strong addition to their front row and a future squads to come.
Speaking to the club in an official statement, he said: “When I was younger, whenever someone asked me, ‘what team would you want to play for?’ I’d always say Sale…
“I’ve scrummed a lot with Asher [Opoku-Fordjour] and I got to know him pretty well. I always tell him how special and different he is, and I can’t wait to play with him.
“The way the club has developed him and nurtured him to become an established Premiership and England player speaks volumes about the coaching and the support that he’s getting at Sale.
“The entire front row is in the England squad, with the Curry boys too, so that tells you that someone at the club is doing something right. I looked at that and I said, ‘why would you not want to be there?’”
Still just 22 years old and having made just as many appearances for his soon-to-be former club, Sale weren’t the only ones chasing his signature.
Jibulu went on to add: “I love those games where you go toe-to-toe physically, so all of that attracted me straight away, and then speaking to people who are there already, they said all the stuff that I really like so it was a no brainer when the opportunity came about.”
As for his impending coach, Director of Rugby Alex Sanderson said: “Nathan is really driven, he understands what he wants from his life and his career, and he knows how he’s going to get it.
“He’s a young lad but he’s incredibly mature and he’s got the game and the physical attributes to match. I’ve got no doubt he’ll play for England in the future and we’re really excited to bring him to the club.”
Currently sat seventh in the table after another at times promising but somewhat frustrating start to the year, the summer can’t come soon enough for Sale.
Danny Jones -
18th May 2023 
