Manchester City led by three goals then collapsed against Feyenoord (3-3) on Tuesday in the Champions League, a spectacular rout after a series of five defeats which had already weakened Pep Guardiola’s armada.
The 2023 European champions and four-time reigning English champions are sinking into crisis before a perilous trip to Liverpool on Sunday and two next crucial matches in Europe, against Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain, also at ‘outside.
On their lawn, Tuesday, the “Citizens” may have believed that they were cursed, due to the numerous missed opportunities, first, and their cataclysmic end to the match, then. There was a header from Haaland on a post (10th), a volley from Jack Grealish blocked by a teammate (13th) and a reflex dive from Timon Wellenreuther on a shot from Phil Foden (23rd). And there were, above all, his repeated defensive errors which allowed Anis Hadj Moussa (75th, 3-1), Santiago Giménez (82nd, 3-2) and David Hancko (89th, 3-3) to play the spoilsport. The Dutch, Lille’s future opponents in January, obtained a third major away result in Europe, after victories at Girona and Benfica. And they place the English in a very uncomfortable situation, they who thought they had opened the way to an easy and significant success after an hour.
A draw at the Etihad indeed seemed unimaginable after Erling Haaland’s double (44th, 53rd) and Ilkay Gündogan’s goal (50th), but the impossible took place in what was once a fortress. If defense is a collective affair, the responsibility for the rout still rests partly on the shoulders of Josko Gvardiol, guilty of a ball on Rotterdam’s first goal. The Croatian defender, already having a hard time on Saturday against Tottenham (4-0 defeat), was joined in his distress by Ederson, the goalkeeper who went into collision but who completely missed his exit on the 3-3 goal. “We have lost a lot of matches recently, we are fragile” and especially in defense, “but I don’t know if it’s a mental problem,” commented coach Pep Guardiola, looking defeated and in a low voice, at the microphone from Amazon Prime.
His winning machine seems to have broken down under the weight of absences, starting with that of Rodri, the 2024 Golden Ball, a stabilizing and dynamiting defensive midfielder, cut down by a serious injury in September.
But the Catalan will above all have to improve the morale of the other players if he wants to stay alive in the Champions League.
He will probably have to win the last three matches of the league phase, but “for the moment, I am not ready to think about that, I have to recover, prepare for the next matches”, he evacuated on the air of the English broadcaster.
