English and Spanish media unleash on Manchester City and Pep Guardiola

The English and Spanish media are particularly sharp in their first post-match analyses. And inevitably, Manchester City and Guardiola take a lot of money.

“The team of multi-millionaires, from the Emirates. Here came those from Abu Dhabi, Qatar, the Russians, they all fell. Here is Real Madrid, a soccer club, something pure. Real Madrid has defeated the three giants made with checks and who do not respect the financial fair play”. The words of Tomas Roncero, Real Madrid’s head journalist at AS newspaper, illustrate the general feeling in Madrid after this victory. Of course, the Madrid players are happy, but they are not afraid to make fun of Manchester City.

“Guardiola must resign, or they must fire him! After spending 3,000 million, you can’t get eliminated. Real Madrid is rolling over you, and you don’t even know how,” said Francisco Buyo, a former Real Madrid great and now a consultant for El Chiringuito. It must be said that the Barcelona past of the Manchester City coach adds spice to the reactions in Madrid. “Real Madrid, with all its history, has punished Guardiola’s greed. Yes, stinginess. For 90 minutes they played to lose time. A perfectly worked tactic. And Guardiola ended up paying for it,” says Marca.

The English are very severe

Across the Channel, the reactions are also quite interesting, and even more brutal. “Manchester City never controlled the proceedings. It was not a convincing City,” Rio Ferdinand explained on BT Sport. But the former Red Devils defender was pretty soft, compared to what you can read in the Daily Mail in particular: “every attempt by Manchester City to win the Champions League has been calamitous. It’s getting worse and worse for a club that wants to consider itself an elite club in Europe. Six times the most consistent and successful team in the Premier League has tried to win this competition with Guardiola. Six times it has failed, each attempt being more calamitous than the other.

“Typical of Manchester City,” headlines the Manchester Evening News, the local daily, with other sharp lines: “The real City never died. It has just turned into a European freak show. The Blues’ ability to snatch defeat from the hands of victory has never been as glaring or painful as it was tonight. The Mirror calls it “Pep Guardiola’s most humiliating defeat with Manchester City”. The race for the Premier League title – City is only one point ahead of Liverpool – is not going to be in the best conditions…