Here is the result in plain text:
Maybe Manchester City’s hopes of reaching the 2024-25 Champions League’s round of 16 were not over within five minutes, after Kylian Mbappe’s early goal, or even eight, after John Stones’ game-ending early injury, but were actually over before last night’s second leg started.
When news filtered through that Erling Haaland would not be in Pep Guardiola’s starting lineup against Real Madrid in the Bernabeu, City’s task for the evening suddenly seemed even more monumental than it already was given the 3-2 first-leg deficit.
It turns out that during City’s bad run, which now spans four months, Haaland’s presence has been taken for granted.
Look, the Norwegian striker’s absence was not the reason for City’s meek performance in the 3-1 defeat that followed; their problems run far deeper. It has been evident for ages now that their midfield is “old” – in Guardiola’s words – and with that, they are slow and weak, and their defence is blighted by injuries. On top of that, they are scarred mentally and exhausted physically.
They generally need to put the ball on a plate for Haaland to make a difference because he is not a player like Cristiano Ronaldo and Lionel Messi in their primes or even current Kylian Mbappe, who can change a game by getting the ball outside the box and creating something special.
He does occupy defenders and the very idea that he might run in behind keeps the opposition honest. It does not always work, but it is something that can never be overlooked, and while City’s season is hardly going well – they have long been out of the Premier League title race and now they have been ejected from European competition, too – Haaland has still scored 27 club goals.
It begs the question: without Haaland at the moment, what is left of this City team? On Wednesday night in the Spanish capital, we may have got our answer: not a lot.
City lacked threat without the injured Haaland in Madrid (Clive Brunskill/Getty Images)
They were limp, toothless and frankly lucky to get nil, let alone one.
Guardiola says the knee injury Haaland picked up against Newcastle on Saturday is “nothing serious”. So he should be back soon, which is very good news for City because anything major would be a significant blow to their hopes of qualifying for next season’s Champions League from their current fourth place, a point ahead of fifth and sixth and three clear of seventh.
At their best, City would be able to live without Haaland more comfortably, but like this, they cannot do without him.
Haaland will always score goals in this City team, but to reach their previous highs, everything needs to work in harmony. Were it not for Guardiola finding a way to make everything click together in his first season in England, which ended with that 2022-23 treble, Haaland might have broken all the scoring records but had no trophies to show for it.
It was only once Guardiola found a way to get the “extra man” in midfield – Stones stepping up from defence – that City became the unstoppable force that won the lot two years ago. Haaland was firing from his first game for the club, but as a unit, they only clicked in March.
The reason they needed that extra man was because Haaland could not – and still cannot – be the kind of striker who links up well with his teammates outside the area. He has other strengths, ones that are especially important now because any goal will do, but at their best, there needed to be more nuance in City’s play.
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