After defeating Dortmund 4-2 on aggregate, Man City are officially into the Champions League semi-final.
Awaiting them in the penultimate round is PSG – with Chelsea and Real Madrid also jostling for a place in the final.
Man City and PSG are considered as the top two clubs remaining in the tournament – with the winner of their clash tipped to scoop the trophy overall.
Ahead of the highly-anticipated first leg on April 28, here’s what you need to know.
League positions
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Typically, the Premier League table feels like an all-out fist fight you’d watch while betting on the NHL Stanley Cup Finals, as it’s ordinarily highly competitive. Not this year, however, as Man City are running away with the title – currently with an 11-point lead over Manchester United.
PSG are all too familiar with double-digit leads in their league as they’ve finished each of the past three years with such advantage. But 2020-21 is a different story. At the moment, PSG are runners-up in Ligue 1, three points behind Lille.
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These divergent league paths partly explain why City are slight favourites to edge PSG, at least according to the online bet-makers. Few teams in the world have played to the calibre of Guardiola’s team since the season began.
Pressure busts pipes or makes diamonds
The weight of the world is seemingly on City right now. Not only is a Champions League and Premier League championship in their crosshairs, but so is an FA Cup and League Cup. No club in history has swept all four tournaments in a single year.
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You can look at this pursuit of history in one of two ways: Either the pressure will force Man City to falter in at least one of their trophy chases. Or, on the flip side, City will feed off the pressure and pull off the unprecedented quadruple win.
Speaking of pressure, PSG have developed a reputation — whether fair or not — for choking in pressure-cooked moments, especially come Champions League time. But is that still fair to say?
In the quarter-finals, PSG eliminated Bayern Munich, the reigning champions who happened to defeat them in last year’s final. Give credit where credit is due, PSG went on the road and pulled off a gutsy 3-2 win with two goals from Kylian Mbappe – winning on aggregate despite a 1-0 defeat in the second tie. The PSG of old may not have held on.
Make no mistake, City and PSG are desperate to get their hands on a Champions League title – a trophy which has so far eluded both these clubs despite aggressively spending over the last decade.
Who has the edge on the pitch?
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Any discussion about PSG begins with their attack. Mbappe and Neymar are as good as it gets in terms of a football frontline. Any magic from them, even for a split second, could create problems for Man City’s defence – especially if City aren’t tactful in possession.
Nevertheless, we can’t overlook that City should be at full-strength against PSG. Paris dodged a bullet last round with Robert Lewandowski — one the world’s top footballers — nursing an injury and missing both matches for Bayern. No such issues are expected for City.
All in all, this semi-final tie feels like it could be a trophy decider. Both PSG and City are red-hot for different reasons – and they’ve never had a better chance to win the coveted cup. We’ll see what unfolds two weeks from now when both collide.
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Manchester United in talks with Disney over ‘multi-million-dollar documentaries’ deal
Danny Jones
Manchester United are said to be in talks with Disney over a potential deal to create a number of “multi-million-dollar documentaries”.
Just a week or so after the first trailer for their upcoming 99 series on Amazon Prime Video, which will follow their iconic treble-winning campaign – and only a couple weeks after Manchester City dropped their own over on Netflix – it looks like we’re getting more Manchester football media.
As per the report by The Athletic‘s Adam Crafton, the discussion between the footballing icons and entertainment giants centres around the proposal to make multiple documentaries about the club, with a specific focus on Sir Alex Ferguson and the legacy he left behind.
With Disney+ now the third biggest streaming service available, boasting more than 150 million subscribers according to the most recent estimates, and Man United still one of the most instantly recognisable brands on the planet, it goes without saying that the viewing figures would be huge.
NEW: Manchester United in multi-million dollar negotiations with @Disney over a deal to make documentaries. Initially with a view to create content about Sir Alex Ferguson’s era of success, including fresh extensive interview access to club’s former coach. https://t.co/VfKOlDdpH0
Man United and Disney are reportedly exploring a collaboration for multiple documentaries.
The article goes on to detail how the prospective documentaries would also ideally involve “substantial interview time with Ferguson”, the now 82-year-old former manager and footballing legend who won a total of 38 trophies in 26 years as the Man United boss.
Disney would reportedly also be given access to the club’s wealth of archive footage along with key ambassadors and figures from their rich sporting heritage, including former captain Bryan Robson, goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel and more.
We’d be surprised if you didn’t see plenty of David Beckham, Gary Neville and other Class of ’92 members involved as well, sitting as arguably the most iconic and foremost serial winners in their history.
As the plans are still in their infancy, Ferguson and his former players would need to formally agree to be part of the documentaries and United would have their say over final edits.
It is said that the current deal on the table is “in the low seven figures” and is actually lower than the terms originally offered to the club when the idea was first floated a couple of years ago.
There is still no indication as to how many projects could be in the pipeline or when we might see the first released if/when a deal is agreed upon.
As for out on the pitch itself, it’s been a turbulent season for the Red Devils, to say the least, but they have still managed to secure a place in the FA Cup final for the second year running following a game they made difficult for themselves against Coventry City.
Set to be just the second Manchester derby final in history, kick-off has once again been moved to an earlier start time to aid with travel issues and potential crowd problems.
FA Cup final confirmed for 3pm kick-off time as Metropolitan Police stress safety for fans
Danny Jones
The start time for the 2023/24 FA Cup final has officially been confirmed with holders Manchester City and challengers Manchester United set to kick off at 3pm on Saturday, 25 May.
It’s a Manc final for the second year running and yet another Manchester Derby this year as City beat Chelsea on penalties to try and defend one of their trophies from last season and Man United did just about enough to scrape through against Coventry City this past weekend.
Logistics and travel arrangements for the conclusion of last year’s FA Cup proved problematic, with the Metropolitan Police stressing that they needed the schedule brought forward to try and help curb crowd trouble – the first time the final had been reverted back to a traditional 3pm start since 2011.
Kick-off times for the knockout tournament have varied for the last three finals, having taken place at 4:45 and 5:15pm in the two years prior to 2023’s first-ever all-Manchester final, but it looks as though the same rationale has been put in place once again.
The kick-off time for the FA Cup final has been confirmed for 3pm.
As per an official statement by the FA, the final has now been officially confirmed as 3pm BST which has been agreed with local authorities, members of the Safety Advisory Group and broadcasters, as well as with the clubs who must take the time needed for fans to travel to and from Wembley into consideration.
While pockets of fighting broke out before and after the game last year, it was deemed that this time would still be the best kick-off time for all parties involved and there will, of course, be an increased police presence in London for the game next month.
Although prioritising safety comes as welcome news, it’ll no doubt prove to be a blow to broadcasters who prefer later kick-offs when eyeing up peak audience numbers; the game is also set to clash with ITV’s coverage of the rugby as the Investec Champions Cup final is also due to start at 2:45pm.
With last season’s historic FA Cup final being the first time the two sides had met in the final in the entire history of the oldest competition in all of football, it rounded off a massive year of viewing figures for the tournament which has continued to hit record numbers in 2024.
The game will once again be shown live on BBC One, BBC iPlayer and ITV1; ITVX, UTV, as well as STV, and there will no doubt be huge screenings of the game all over Greater Manchester, where an increased police presence is also expected.
The Manc -
14th April 2021 
