And now what? Think of City fans, the same ones who were excited at the beginning of the season with a PEP team that, since 2018, had six of the last seven Premier Leagues (all but 2020) and dreamed of its second Champions League, after the winning debut in 2023. All under the mandate of Pep Guardiola, the most important coach in the history ‘Cityzen’.
Nobody, neither inside nor outside the club, imagined that on February 20 the Mercanster Club only had two real aspirations of title: the FA Cup -will face in March the modest Plymouth, current penultimate classified of the Championship, the second English category -; and the June-Julio Club World Cup, which is far away, but that the City will take as a way to redeem in a disastrous course. The rivals in the World Cup will be Wydad Marroquí, Ain Emiratí and Juventus.
Real Madrid 3-1 Manchester City: Summary and goals | Champions League (Repessca, Vuelta)
Along the way, the English won the Community Shield -in penalties to United -… but they ran out of Cup -eliminated in October by Tottenham; Without Premier League -it is fourth to 17 points of the Liverpool leader; and the Champions League, after yesterday at the Bernabéu.
That is, in February only FA Cup and Club World has a team that has opted for its renewal (four signings in January with more than 200 million spending) and that already opted for Savinho in summer as the only signing with cost ( 25 million euros).
A club that has just renewed structure with the media and large renovations of Pep Guardiola (until 2027) and Erling Haaland (until 2034). As a background, there is also the renewal of some ‘sacred cows’ of the squad that could fly at the end of the season, with special attention to the two that end in 2025: Gündögan and Kevin de Bruyne.
But, for now, all the attention will be in the Premier League. As rare as it may seem, the most immediate City goal is to be among the top five that will give access to the Champions 25-26. It is what there is, I said ‘dixit’-.