A year and a half ago I touched the sky. Pep Guardiola He achieved for City the first Champions League in the history of the British club. A cherry on top of a spectacular career in Manchester, with six Premiers since he landed on the citizen bench eight and a half years ago, the last four consecutively. But everything seems to have gone wrong this season, just when it has just renewed until 2027. The draw against Feyenoord In the Champions League this week it is the sixth game without winning, with 17 goals conceded, Pep’s worst streak at the Etihad, accumulating five consecutive defeats before the draw with the Dutch team.
Guardiola He couldn’t stand to see how his team let themselves be tied in the last quarter of an hour the three-goal advantage he had against Feyenoord and after the 3-3 score he appeared at a press conference with visible scratches on the top of his head and forehead and with a small visible cut on his nose. The technician, in response to the curiosity generated, responded that he had caused it with a nail. “I want to hurt myself”he joked. Some statements that Pep did not measure and that not everyone agreed with the humor that the Catalan released. As time went by, they acquired a certain significance until they generated such controversy that they forced the coach to qualify them.
“Last night they surprised me with a question at the end of the press conference about a scratch that had appeared on my face and I explained that it had been accidentally caused by a sharp nail,” says Guardiola on his social media profile, while He apologized for having trivialized this topic: “My response was in no way intended to downplay the very serious problem of self-harm. I know that many people struggle every day with mental health problems,” he explained in a text that he accompanied with the telephone numbers and contact emails for help associations.
Guardiola knows that City’s future in the Champions League has been compromised after this unexpected draw. With eight points, it occupies 17th position, in positions that require a playoff (they are contested from ninth to 24th), but the next two commitments of the three that remain are ordeal: Juventuswhich is 19th, in Turin and PSG in Pariswith the aggravating factor that the French club, in direct elimination positions, is risking its life. The English finish the first phase by hosting Bruges. «The last three games are going to be crucial, we have to think about recovering. If we are not able to win a game like this, this Champions will be difficult», warned the one from Santpedor after the painful draw. “After a 3-3 there is not much to say, we played a good game but you can’t go like that,” he lamented, without being able to explain the causes of the problems that are affecting his team: “I don’t know if it’s a mental or technical issue. These goals against cannot happen. Normally we manage the games well, but we are not winning them, that is the feeling we have right now,” he said.
Their last victory dates back to October 26, when they beat Southampton by the minimum (1-0) at the Etihad. Since then everything has been setbacks. The first defeat of this streak was in London against the Tottenhamin the round of 16 of the League Cup, which meant the elimination of the citizen team at the first opportunity, although Pep had already warned that he would play with his second unit, demonstrating the little importance he gives to this tournament. Then came the defeats against Bournemouth (2-1), the Sporting Lisbon in Champions (4-1), the Brighton (2-1) and the Tottenham (0-4). This Sunday City visits Liverpool with the obligation to win so that Arne Slot’s team, which leads the Premier table, does not escape eleven points.
#Guardiolas #despair
