The words “Our Goal” are inscribed over a photograph of the Champions League trophy that is displayed on the wall of Manchester City’s treatment room. This is a piece of silverware that has escaped the blue half of Manchester despite the fact that they have spent billions of dollars over the years to shape up their team.
The aforementioned photo, which was published by Jack Grealish to the social networking app BeReal in France, may have revealed something that had the potential to be kept secret; yet, it comes as no surprise to learn that the Champions League is City’s major ambition for the upcoming season.
Real Madrid, a team from Spain that has won a record-extending 14th European trophy, stands in their way at the last hurdle. Real Madrid is a side that has gone on to collect its record-extending 14th European silverware after crushing the aspirations of City players and fans in the cruelest manner almost a year ago.
Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid will play Pep Guardiola and Manchester City in the semifinals of the Champions League once again. This matchup took place last year and was won by Madrid. However, this time around, the reigning champions will be the ones to host the opening leg on Tuesday night at midnight.
When the Cityzens walk through the tunnel of the Santiago Bernabeu, they will surely be reminded of how despair and disbelief had eventually engulfed them a year ago at this very arena, despite having been the superior side for approximately 180 minutes across the two legs — both in terms of goals and overall chances created. This will occur because the Cityzens were the team that had the advantage in terms of goals and overall chances created.
But Los Blancos made it a habit of conjuring astounding comebacks with moments of sheer ‘football madness’ that season, and they had reserved the most enthralling one to break City fans’ hearts at the eleventh hour — turning the game around in the six minutes of stoppage time of the final leg to have Guardiola and his men befuddled, and walking away with a 6-5 defeat on aggregate. This was the moment that broke City fans’ hearts.
Even though it had backfired on Liverpool’s Mohamed Salah quite miserably, City’s Bernardo Silva did not hesitate to fire a revenge warning to Madrid after confirming their place in their third consecutive Champions League semifinal and their fourth overall following a convincing 4-1 aggregate win over Pep Guardiola’s former club Bayern Munich in the quarterfinals.
Silva, on the other hand, has every right to be boastful about his assurance. On paper, City was light years ahead of Madrid in terms of both quality and depth during the previous season, and they appear to be far more polished and menacing this time around, especially in light of the fact that they have recruited goal-scoring dynamo Erling Haaland.
Not only has the Norwegian striker, who is 22 years old and has long hair, dispelled any worries about his ability to succeed in what is often considered to be the most difficult league in the world, but his phenomenal figures look to be statistical anomalies when compared to those collected by other experienced attackers in the Premier League. He has scored more goals than any of them.
Haaland has already broken the record for most goals scored in a single season in the Premier League, which was previously held by Andy Cole and Alan Shearer. He is now playing for the Cityzens. Next to Haaland, who now owns the new record for scoring in the Premier League with 35 goals, on the top scorer’s list is England’s number nine Harry Kane, who stands at a distant second with 10 less goals. Haaland’s goal tally is now the new Premier League scoring record.
In the first 51 games of the season, Haaland has now scored 51 goals, 12 of which have come in the Champions League. After scoring five goals against RB Leipzig in the return leg of the Round of 16, he now shares the record of scoring five goals in a game in the famous tournament with Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano. All of his goals were scored in the first hour of the match.
The absence of a true number nine in an otherwise extremely talented and creative side was the one thing that Manchester City struggled with the most during the previous campaign.
The incorporation of Haaland and also World Cup winner Julian Alvarez, who scores goals whenever he is called into action, have not only solved City’s one glaring issue from the previous season but have done so in such a manner that it has now turned Guardiola’s team into one of the most fearsome sides, if not the “best in the world,” as said by Barcelona coach Xavi Hernandez on Monday.
It’s possible that Haaland’s goal-scoring talent is not the only thing Madrid has to be concerned about. The fact that he recently assisted Kevin De Bruyne in scoring two goals in what could have been a title-deciding match against Arsenal in the Premier League and that he provided Silva with a cross that was perfectly weighted in the first leg of the quarterfinal match against the Bavarians are ample proof that the Norwegian is capable of more than just scoring goals.
Haaland’s chemistry with De Bruyne, who leads the Premier League in assists for the current season, and the red-hot Silva could be the difference between a wasteful City team like the one that played Madrid in the first leg of the semifinals of the Champions League last year and a City team that could heap misery on a Madrid team that is struggling domestically this time around. De Bruyne leads the Premier League in assists for the current season.
Putting the Haaland factor to one side, Manchester City have been looking more collected over their control in the midfield as of late. This may be attributed to Pep Guardiola’s use of center defender John Stones as part of a double pivot in a 3-2-4-1 formation. If the Whites allow the Sky Blues to control the midfield for an excessively lengthy period of time, the defending champions may not be able to recreate their previous amazing comeback this time.
They would only be the second English club ever to do so following Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in 1998-99 if they were successful in this aspect, and they now have the momentum on their side. The treble-chasing City team also has the momentum on their side. They struck the form at the perfect time, which has put them in the position of being favorites to win the Premier League for the fifth time in the last six seasons.
In the first 51 games of the season, Haaland has now scored 51 goals, 12 of which have come in the Champions League. After scoring five goals against RB Leipzig in the return leg of the Round of 16, he now shares the record of scoring five goals in a game in the famous tournament with Lionel Messi and Luiz Adriano. All of his goals were scored in the first hour of the match.
In the meanwhile, Real Madrid have already conceded the La Liga championship to their fiercest rivals, Barcelona. However, the rising injury problems that Los Blancos are facing represent the greatest threat to them in what is perhaps their greatest battle of the season. Ancelotti had to pick and choose matches for star forward Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior due to their fitness issues. Midfield maestro Luka Modric is in a race against time to recover from his leg injury that he picked up in an embarrassing 4-2 loss against Girona in La Liga late last month. Modric suffered the injury in an embarrassing loss to Girona in La Liga last month.
As things now stand, if reason and common decency in competition are given the opportunity to argue their case, Ancelotti and his team will once again hand over the mantle of favorites to City. The fact that the first leg was played at their own stadium makes it more likely that the old cliché “90 minutes at the Bernabeu is a very long time” would not have the same impact as it would have had if the second leg had been played at the famous stadium.
Also, in contrast to the previous year, when Real Madrid did not have to worry about winning La Liga at the same stage because they had already done so by that point, they will have to carry the burden of a probable trophyless season this year if they are defeated by Osasuna in the Copa del Rey final tonight. In the previous year, Madrid did not have to worry about winning La Liga at the same stage because they had already done so by that point.
However, in spite of the fact that all of the odds are stacked against Madrid, very few people would be ready to gamble against the Champions League experts in their 34th semifinal of the competition. The relationship between Los Blancos and this particular tournament is one that cannot be compared to anything else of its like. Unthinkable feats have been accomplished by Real Madrid in this league throughout the years, and their three incredible comebacks in a row in the previous season against star-studded Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, and City are merely a drop in the bucket.
In light of this, excluding Real Madrid from consideration on the basis of simple calculations and statistical studies would be like to constructing castles in the air.
As things stand, on May 10, the answer to the equation could come down to a single question: Will goal-machine Haaland be able to drive Manchester City towards their ultimate ‘Goal,’ or will Real Madrid live up to their reputation and once again have one hand on the most coveted trophy in club football?