Even Man City's new €172 million trio can't salvage their flailing season

Paul Fennessy

IF A team or player is even slightly off at football’s elite level, they risk being brutally exposed.

Ex-Ireland international and Man United legend Roy Keane spoke about this predicament on The Overlap podcast last year.

“There’s a few teams I’ve played against and generally it was either Real Madrid or Barcelona… No other team has made me doubt that I’m good enough.

“With the Spanish teams, and even the so-called lesser ones, they’d keep the ball. Particularly with Barcelona and Real, when they had the top players and were in the zone, you were like ‘all the best getting the ball back’.

“That night against Barcelona, I think I touched the ball four times and that was in the warm-up. We just couldn’t get near them.

“It was four [nil] and we were delighted it was four.”

In certain respects, tonight’s big Champions League clash was reminiscent of Keane’s heyday in the 1990s.

Both teams adopted a 4-4-2 formation (although it was fluid in each case), and the opening goal saw Man City get caught by a long ball over the top that was converted by a pacy and powerful striker who feels like a throwback and bears comparison to the original Brazilian Ronaldo who donned Real Madrid’s colours with such distinction for several years.

But there were also reminders of how much football has changed in the last 30 years.

After John Stones’ eighth-minute withdrawal through injury, Real Madrid had as many English players (1) in their XI as City.

There were also only three Spanish players in the teams’ lineups (one in City’s), highlighting the truly international nature of football at the elite level.

Although the word ‘elite’ can be used liberally when it comes to Man City and their performance this evening.

It is less than two years since Pep Guardiola’s side blew Real Madrid away in the Champions League semi-finals, winning 4-0 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate.

At the time, Madrid looked like an ageing team overpowered by more vibrant and tactically astute rivals.

Tonight, the opposite was the case — Carlo Ancelotti’s side were smarter and more physically adept in virtually every department.

Madrid had just four survivors in the starting XI from that chastening night at the Etihad — Vinicius Junior, Rodrygo, Federico Valverde and Thibaut Courtois.

Man City, by contrast, had five — Bernardo Silva, Ederson, Ilkay Gundogan, John Stones and Ruben Dias. And they might have had more if Erling Haaland, Rodri, Jack Grealish and Kevin De Bruyne were 100% fit.

But the point is that Madrid have evolved considerably since then

Stars like Toni Kroos, Karim Benzema and Luka Modric have either moved on or become more peripheral squad members.

Whereas City’s most important players then still feel like their key men now.

The Premier League club have effectively stood still for two years — a cardinal sin at the highest level — and that is the primary reason for their decline.

Madrid have resolved the lack of energy in their midfield that was obvious in May 2023, while bringing in world-class stars like Jude Bellingham and Kylian Mbappe, who scored a phenomenal hat-trick tonight.

City’s stasis can perhaps be partially attributed to the 115 charges hanging over them as a result of the much-publicised legal case involving the Premier League.

But they took belated measures to address their swift decline during the January transfer window.

Last season is increasingly looking like the final hurrah for one era of Guardiola’s team as they picked up 91 points on their way to winning the Premier League for a fourth successive time.

Though in an ominous sign of what was to come, their season ended in anti-climactic fashion with a shock defeat to an average Man United side in the FA Cup final.

This year has been a disaster by comparison and tonight’s result means the only trophy that can realistically hope to win is the FA Cup they narrowly missed out on previously.

61' Real Madrid 3-0 Manchester City (6-2 on aggregate)
There's the hat-trick for Kylian Mbappe. Real are cruising into the last 16.

📺 https://t.co/b2OI4OoWVJ
🖥️ https://t.co/Ru5V9quY9B pic.twitter.com/lirhrQ9wsx

— RTÉ Sport (@RTEsport) February 19, 2025

Guardiola is now in his ninth season with the English club and only once in his managerial career has he finished a campaign trophyless — 2016-17, his first year at City.

Then, as now, the Etihad outfit were a team in transition.

And already, the building blocks are in place for a new era at City.

De Bruyne started on the bench tonight and the Belgian international’s powers appear diminished, and he could be one of several high-profile players to depart the club this summer.

The fact that more recent signings like Jérémy Doku, Mateo Kovačić and Matheus Nunes were held in reserve also felt significant.

The club spent big in the recent January transfer, compensating for some previous windows that were frugal by their standards.

Each of the big-money signings — Abdukodir Khusanov, Omar Marmoush and Nico González — started tonight, but all three were relatively ineffectual, with Khusanov given a particularly torrid time, trying to stop the electric Vinicius from wreaking havoc down the left.

The €172 million trio represent City’s future — and the English side’s late consolation goal tonight, which saw González tap home after Marmoush’s free-kick had come back off the woodwork, felt like a glimpse into it.

But at the moment City are a team in between two eras — the new players haven’t quite adapted into fully-fledged stars while the more experienced individuals are fighting valiantly to retain their relevance.

Like Roy Keane all those years ago, there are some players at City this evening who will privately be doubting whether they are still good enough at this level.

Real Madrid, on the other hand, look very much like a team in their pomp.

They are guided by an exceptional manager, Carlo Ancelotti, who has won more Champions League/European Cup trophies (5) than any other coach in history, and based on tonight’s dominant display, few would bet against them retaining their title this year.