Manchester City was largely without a chance against a composed Liverpool team. Nevertheless, Pep Guardiola praised his team and predicted a great future for them.
Manchester City’s encounters with Real Madrid and Liverpool in recent times have been full of drama. But there was little of that last week, largely due to the Skyblues: they were simply out of their depth in both games. While Madrid taught them an impressive lesson (1-3), the Reds were much more mature.
But Pep Guardiola was not dissatisfied after the 2-0 defeat to Liverpool – quite the opposite. He repeatedly emphasized how well his team had played. “When you lose, you have to lose the way we did today,” said the Catalan. He praised the “rhythm, pressing and solidarity” of his players, who make him dream of a “bright future”. “I’ve seen a lot of things that show this club has a great future with the players we have,” said the 54-year-old.
In fact, with the exception of Kevin De Bruyne and Nathan Aké, he trusted a starting XI that could well play together in this formation for years to come. For example, Nico or Jeremy Doku were preferred to Ilkay Gündogan and Jack Grealish, who were still key players in the treble-winning team two years ago. Guardiola last fielded such a young starting XI (25 years and 68 days on average) at the end of the 2019/20 season.
Incidentally, back then, the Citizens finished the season 18 points behind champions Liverpool, who they distanced to 20 points on Sunday in the present. What happened next is well known: ManCity grabbed four Premier League titles as well as the Champions League trophy.
Arne Slot expects a similar development in the next few seasons. “They’ve already brought in three or four new players, and I think everyone knows they’ll probably only miss out on the top spot once this season,” said Liverpool’s coach.
If the Dutchman is proved right, fans can look forward to much more exciting duels in the coming years. However, with different main players than in the past, since Liverpool have already made a major change and the contracts of key players Mohamed Salah, Virgil van Dijk and Trent Alexander-Arnold expire in the summer.
