No revenge for Brighton & Hove Albion in the final: Despite a good start, the Seagulls lost to Manchester City again in the ePremier League final. The Skyblues thus defended their title.
On the real pitch, Manchester City is still in crisis. After two games without a win, Pep Guardiola’s team is even in danger of falling out of the European ranks. With a 22-point deficit, the Citizens are currently miles away from defending the title again.
Quite the opposite in virtual soccer, where the Skyblues defended the ePremier League trophy at the weekend. After a strong group stage, the duo of Matias Bonanno and Donovan Hunt qualified for the quarter-finals against Fulham.
FIFA 23 world champion declassified
Hunt made the score 4-0 in the first match to make the situation clear, but Fulham’s Salman Ahmad fought his way back in the second game. At halftime, he was only two goals away from evening the aggregate score, but Bonanno’s 2-1 (50th minute) put a stop to his comeback. Fulham did manage to reduce the deficit to one goal, but City held on to win by the narrowest of margins.
In the semi-finals, it came to a repeat of last year’s duel against Liverpool. Bonanno left no doubt and declassified FIFA 23 world champion Manuel Bachoore 6-2. Hunt lost the second game 0-2 to Lucas Lekhal – but the Skyblues needed only the result to reach the final.
Bonanno pulls the coals out of the fire
There was also a sense of déjà vu in the final: once again, the opponent was Brighton & Hove Albion, and once again Hunt faced Jayden Groden – this time the duel was lost. With the score at 2-4, Manchester City fell behind for the first time in the play-offs, but Bonanno kept his nerve: before the break of the second game, he not only tied the game but also turned the overall game around.
Brighton’s Marc Marley equalized after the restart, but conceded the 1-4 by return of post – the golden goal to defend the title (6-5). City not only secured the trophy and around €18,000 in prize money, but also two tickets for the World Championship and the eChampions League.
“Currently one of the best duos in the world”
“Being the first team to win the title twice in a row is a special achievement for me. I can’t wait to continue our run in the eChampions League and the World Championship,” said Bonanno in the Manchester City club release. ‘I think ’Tekkz’ and I are currently one of the best duos in the world. We have definitely proven that in the most difficult ePremier League series we have ever played.“
”Brighton was an extremely tough opponent in the final. Matias and I really had to push ourselves to achieve victory,” added Hunt, who feels for Brighton this year.
