It’s really difficult to say in such a low moment, but I think that the facts are laid pretty bare that Man City were so far below the level they had to be to compete against Real Madrid in Spain.
Since I arrived in Madrid a couple of days ago, there was this growing belief that despite the first leg, despite the way that ended, City would come here and really challenge Madrid, would score, would trouble them.
I think that was the most concerning thing from Pep Guardiola’s point of view on Wednesday night – that the team were not the team we’re used to seeing. They were unrecognisable in the sense that with the ball they didn’t cause enough problems.
He was asked before the game about whether this could be the final Champions League hurrah for some of this squad – and while he batted that off, after the match Guardiola was a little bit more honest when he was talking about the need to perhaps rebuild.
He said they’ll look at it in the summer, but they have already spent big in January. The summer will be more about players leaving. Look at the contracts which are up in June – the likes of Kevin De Bruyne or Ilkay Gundogan.
Speaking after Wednesday’s game, Sky Sports News’ Ben Ransom reflected on Man City’s below-par performance which saw them soundly beaten in Madrid
There’s been no word from the club as to whether or not they’re going to extend either of those deals, but both players are in their 30s and in recent weeks have looked physically short. That’s something that Pep Guardiola spoke about after the game; his team didn’t have the physicality to match Real Madrid across the pitch. So you do wonder what decision will be made on each of those.
The following summer is perhaps even more pressing given there is another raft of players – the likes of John Stones, who unfortunately got yet another injury in Madrid, plus Bernardo Silva and Ederson – also out of contract. These are all players that either are, or will be, in their 30s by the time the end of their contracts comes around.
The club has to look seriously at where those players are in terms of their careers and how they need to get back to matching Real Madrid, who it has to be said were a better team than I’ve seen in the last couple of seasons.
So where now? This was something that Pep spoke about after the game, too. It’s very difficult. You could tell he was very downbeat, and the Bernabeu is not a stadium he particularly enjoys coming to anyway.
I’ve followed City and followed him here on a couple of occasions. He is roundly loathed by those connected to Real Madrid owing to those Barcelona connections. His image, whenever it came up on the big screen for example, was jeered louder than any Man City player.
Kylian Mbappe scored a hat-trick within the first hour of the second leg
So you can understand why he was quite down, but he spoke after the game about how City motivate themselves for the rest of the season, because they have to pick themselves up this weekend to go into what is a huge match in the Premier League against Liverpool, a team who have been their biggest rival.
Those matches in recent years have been the most intense in the Premier League, and they have each pushed each other to new levels. Jurgen Klopp was the rival who Pep pitted himself against and made sure he came up with a way of beating and getting past. But this season, Pep is struggling for answers.
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I’ve lost count of the number of press conferences I’ve sat in post-match and he’s been asked something along the lines of how he picks his players up, what’s going wrong and how does he solve these problems.
And we are now weeks, and weeks, and weeks on from losing Rodri. There have been so many games played and there isn’t that solution which has presented itself.
Erling Haaland was an unused substitute at the Bernebeu as Man City struggled to create
We have had flashes, like at the weekend in the Premier League against Newcastle with Nico Gonzalez, the ‘mini-Rodri’ all of a sudden, but in Madrid those same players were a shadow of the team we saw at the weekend.
So it is a tough one for Pep. He is obviously trying to stay positive. They’ve got to finish in the Champions League places.
Financially, that’s really important, especially when you consider everything in terms of a potential squad rebuild. And then it’s the FA Cup. It’s about trying to lift some silverware and salvage something from what otherwise, as Pep has said, has been one of their lowest seasons.
