3 talking points that explains why Man City bottled the game.

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(Edited)

Did you see what happened last night between Real Madrid and Liverpool? Wow! That was brilliant gameplay. It's up there with top games with unexpected twists and turns in this season's Champions League.

Every fantasy you would want from a Champions League game was visible in that game. Talented players, world-class performance, sumptuous passes, astonishing body movement, tactical expertise of top tier managers, goals... Everything!


I love this game. I love it.


I wanted to write this post immediately after the game, but I had to give myself enough time to process what I witnessed. I needed to understand what happened and how a team like Manchester City got to bottle their two goals advantage in the last minutes of a game.

This is magic! I never thought I would ever say this about football, but what I saw yesterday is 'magic'. This was Manchester City's game to win, but they let themselves down and they should be embarrassed with that performance. There is no excuse any of them can give for bottling that game with less than 8 minutes before the final whistle.

That was a delectable medley of footballing splendour. We love to see these kinda games because it is exactly what separates the title contenders in Europe from the title pretenders. Unfortunately for Pep Guardiola, his side bottled it, again!

I was paying attention to his reaction at the touchline. It was a hyperactive reaction unlike Ancelotti (Real Madrid's manager) who was rather calm on the touchline. Pep rubbed his hands on his head on several occasions, but as y'all know, there is no hair there. Lol. I'm sure Pep and his boys will be gutted every single time they remember how they bottled their chance to face Liverpool in the finals.


What this result means to the football world

Immediately Manchester City fell asleep in the last 8 minutes of normal time, Real Madrid capitalized on it and punished Man City severely. The first goal changed everything about the game and it was followed by two more goals. There was a massive eruption at the Bernabeu Stadium. Mates, you can't script things like this.

Now, we are sure of a Champions League final between the elites of Spain (Real Madrid) and the elites of England (Liverpool). This is going to be a thrilling display and I'm waiting for it.


3 talking points that explains why Man City bottled the game.


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I've said it on some of my posts about football and I'm going to say it again, 'football fans can be annoyingly talkative'. It's part of the game so, there is always something to talk about after each game. Let's dive into this one.

  • The substitutions: Aside from the substitution of Kyle Walker who was already suffering from injury, every other substitution looked like a wrong choice, especially the one that saw KDB being replaced by Zinchenko. It didn't look like that during the game but because of how the result turned out, it's now another reason to take a dig at Pep for 'overthinking his tactics'.
  • Lack of Champions League pedigree: In football, what we've all come to accept is that the history of a club will always play a big part in their performance and how they grind out wins especially on big European nights. Real Madrid is the Champions league specialist. They have won it more time than all the English teams combined while Man City have zero (0) UCL trophy in their trophy cabinet. The Gap is a country mile. It's a huge statement.
  • If the plan doesn't work, everything shatters: This is unfortunately how it has been for Pep Guardiola's Man City's side every single time they got knocked out of the Champions League. They are a formidable team with a nice playing style but we've seen on several occasions that whenever they need to grind out a win at important stages, they often lack the individual brilliance needed to execute it. When the table turned on them yesterday, De Bruyne was the one who could have saved their face, but unfortunately for them, he was already subbed off.

Every tactical display we saw summarises the fact that Manchester City kept their door closed for 89 minutes, but by the time Real Madrid started scoring, Man City found themselves in all kinds of shit.


We are shaming the shameless


After that awful bottling job, the whole footballing world was taking a dig at Manchester City. You need to see the clips of Patrick Evra. He is swimming in excitement.

To be fair, Everyone deserves to take a dig at Manchester City. That's exactly what happens to bottlers. The whole footballing world is taking the piss out of them for that bottle job.

C'ya all in France.

Thanks For Not Missing Any Full-stop Or Comma
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34 comments
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I think Manchester City did not deserve to lose this game. They played a better series than Real Madrid, as both in the game in England and in Spain, City beat Real Madrid. There is no need to look for explanations for this elimination, it was magic.

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Exactly. That's exactly what I exclaimed. Magic! There is no better explanation because what we saw was unbelievable.

A team like Manchester City is never expected to switch off in a game of such pedigree and also concede two heavy goals within the last 4 minutes of a game which they literally held up for over 87 minutes.

I'm sure these lads are gutted by this performance. I'm only hoping it will affect their premier league runs so that Liverpool can capitalize on it and claim the title. Hahah. Heartless Me 😂. !PIZZA

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Nice one bro @kenechukwu97
Everyone needs to know that Ancellotti is a beast when it comes to in-game tactics. A look at the last 3 games of Real Madrid; PSG in the round of 16, Chelsea in the quarter-final and this against Manchester City will show you that not only is Real Madrid a Champions League don but the coach is as badass as well, having won the Champions League with Real Madrid in the past. So, he knows the team very well. He studies the game during the game and crafts a tactic for that game. Even more, he does this with so much calmness.
It's just sad for Manchester City. No European trophy to their name among the 28 trophies in their closet. What more can Pep do differently?

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Exactly. Ancelotti doesn't get a lot of hype and I understand why. He is not like Klopp or Guardiola who is known for a particular playing style.

What Ancelotti does wherever he goes is to bring a tactics that suits the players he has and we always see him switch tactics multiple times in a game whenever he sees how games evolves.

I'm already sure the final will bring forth an interesting tactical playground for both Ancelotti and Klopp. !PIZZA

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The substitutions were not necessary at all
Pep and overthinking... That has hunted him many times but yet he keeps on doing it
It was indeed a bottling the football world will continue to remember for a long time

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Exactly. I don't know why he had to just do that overthinking when he is already a step away from getting into the biggest stage of club football

In his mind, he is tactically resting his best player (KDB) but now, he will be regretting that decision after all, there are only 4 games left for them this season

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The man city players really fell asleep in the last few minutes of the game, Ancelotti really outsmarted pep.

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Exactly. Ancelotti! That man got me very curious during the game. While Pep was getting pumped and screaming and jumping around, Ancelotti was rather the calmest person in that field.

He is spot on.

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I used to watch a lot of football, including Champions League but I became so disappointed with the current state that I stoped watching all together. I feel like there is more a theatre, faking injuries and other stuff than actually playing football 🤷‍♀

But I'm glad it was an enjoyable game to you! 😊

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Hahah... It's very annoying to watch that kinda game. The 'unnecessary' delay tactics, playing 11 defenders in a game and defending from the first to final whistle, faking of injuries, diving and more. That's what we call negative football and the teams that adopt that style are usually stuck at middle or bottom table.

We don't see something like that from top teams. Hehe. I hope you get to watch Champions league final. It's a game to watch.

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The 'unnecessary' delay tactics, playing 11 defenders in a game and defending from the first to final whistle, faking of injuries, diving and more.

Exactly! I stopped watching football mainly for these reasons... It's just boring and I lost motivation to also see International leagues..

I hope you get to watch Champions league final. It's a game to watch.

I will think about it! Maybe I'll give it a try 😁

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It is exciting to read a post like yours. I don't know much about football but the truth is that you can see the enthusiasm in reading. You are a fanatic and you know what you are talking about. I hope the next matches are this dramatic, it's almost an adventure to read it, I can practically hear part of the narration of the game by the sports commentators hahaha

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Woww... Thanks so much for the wonderful comment. I appreciate every part of it.

People that are not football fan have gone through some of my football related posts this week and everyone of them seems to be saying the same thing. You need to see how excited I am about this feedback. Thanks so much for appraising my Passion and writing style. Hehe

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😅 Excellent, that's very good, that motivates you to keep doing what you do, your passion is felt in your lyrics. Bravo 🤝

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Hahah... Thanks so much. I hope to maintain the moment and also to improve on it. Thanks so much. Hehe. !PIZZA

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I'm sure you will 😃🌺

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Thanks dear. I hope you get to watch a football game and also enjoy the emotions that comes with it. Hehe

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Fr me, It all boils down to the substitutions, they were really uncalled for.

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We all understand why he had to remove Walker. After all, the lad was injured. But De Bruyne? That was totally uncalled for.

Seriously, there are only 4 league games to play and he is still trying to rest players. That's exactly why he bottled his chance of getting to the biggest stage of club football. Pep messed it up with those substitutions. !PIZZA

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At first, Walker's injury was already a big blow on them and I do not expect him taking KDB out at all.

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Yeah. Man City are well spiced in all position but they have issues in the Right-Back position and it was visible in the first leg. It happened again in that second leg.

Removing KDB made it easier for Real to also dominate the midfield and stretch out the wing backs. Everything became a mess and Man City couldn't pull themselves together until when it was already too late.

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Few minutes to end the match and Manchester city lost I don't really know much about football game but in our daily lives whenever we are getting to the end we should not relent because anything can happen.
reading from@dreemport

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Nice point taken from this. That's exactly how it is. We can't relent. We should never relent. !PIZZA

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Guardiola in every season is exposed to a scenario harsher than the season before...

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Surely. This was supposed to be the season where he secures direct entry to UCL finals, but everything became a mess in the last few minutes of the game.

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I don't watch football but i love reading you honestly...😂

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Lol... Which game do you watch? Archery tournament?

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😂. None apparently

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Lol... You have the whole weekend to make up your mind and choose a sport. Haha.

I started watching football in 2017. That was my penultimate year in Uni. I just developed interest in it. Everything that was happening on screen was too confusing for me. I didn't understand the leagues, point system, offside rule and co. Haha.

But, I studied it like a course (on my own) and got involved with some annoying talkatives (especially those Chelsea fans in Nigeria). Haha. Now, I've already learned so much beyond the on-screen game itself. I got to learn the tactical side of the game, build-ups, Pre-match review and post match analysis. Hehe.

It was not supposed to be easy, but I just enjoy it and I always want to know so much about whatever I'm passionate about.

But, sports is not really something everyone must be involved with. If you already have something else you do and you are okay with it for leisure (can also grow into business), you can stick with it. Hehe

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Hehehe. If there is any sort I would get involved in, it has to be on the more extreme side😂

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