Manchester City were well beaten by Real Madrid in the Champions League on Wednesday night, and their response will define the campaign
Pep Guardiola admitted before this game that Real Madrid has had a huge influence on his career, the Spanish heavyweights will now significantly shape his season.
The Manchester City boss has come up against Los Blancos 50 times now as a player and manager, the latest meeting will likely be the most difficult to stomach.
An inspired Madrid romped into a 3-0 interval lead thanks to a Fedi Valverde hat-trick as a defensively suspect City were left stunned.
It was a mountain to climb and City couldn’t lay a glove. The Champions League bid is in tatters on a night to forget. The reaction will now tell us everything.
Were this City vintage good enough to go all the way in Europe? Possibly not given where this team is at and the calibre of opponents in their half of the draw. Can they recover from such a chastening evening to keep their trophy hopes alive in domestic competitions? Time will tell.
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West Ham away is next, with the Hammers improved in recent weeks as they chase Premier League survival.
For a City side desperate to keep pace with Arsenal at the top it is a must-win. Particularly as they don’t play another top flight fixture for nearly a month.
The Carabao Cup final is only 10 days away, an FA Cup quarter-final with Liverpool looms over Easter weekend. The next three weeks is City’s season.
City’s ability to recover from setbacks has been evident already this season. Successive defeats to Newcastle and Leverkusen in November, the defeat to Bodo/Glimt was followed by an 11 game unbeaten run ended in Madrid.
The Blues must now do it again under the pressure of an imposing fixture list that could make or break the campaign.
Beat West Ham and then Arsenal at Wembley and the international break takes on an entirely different narrative.
Guardiola has been here before, this squad hasn’t. Not in a run-in when suddenly every match is magnified, every fixture could be fatal.
It’s a test of mentality and mindset now for this City side.
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