It was Groundhog Day for Manchester City supporters at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday night.
For what feels like the umpteenth time this season, the Premier League champions squandered a late lead, with Real Madrid the latest beneficiary.
Erling Haaland’s penalty with 10 minutes to play had put City on the brink of an unlikely victory against the record European champions, on a night where Pep Guardiola’s side found a way to overcome the issues that had plagued them for the majority of this season.
Or at least that’s how it felt prior to Brahim Diaz’s equaliser six minutes later and Jude Bellingham’s eventual winner deep into the three allotted minutes of added time.
It marked the fifth time this season City had led heading into the final 15 minutes of a match, only to end up missing out on victory altogether.
Brighton, Brentford, Manchester United, Feyenoord and now Real Madrid – the infamous five.
That list doesn’t even include the recent losses against Paris Saint-Germain or Arsenal, both of which saw City concede four second-half goals en route to bruising defeats.
But the strange thing about all of City’s collapses this season is how eerily similar they’ve been.
Bellingham’s winner at the Etihad on Tuesday night might as well have been a repeat of the move that led to United’s equaliser during December’s Manchester Derby.
A dodgy back pass from a City full-back who probably shouldn’t be playing full-back leads to an opposition winger getting in behind and creating a goal-scoring opportunity.
Back then it was Matheus Nunes undercooking a pass to Ederson and subsequently bringing down Amad Diallo in the penalty box while trying to make amends for the error.
This time it was Rico Lewis misjudging his backpass, with Vinicius Junior capitalising and eventually – albeit with a slice of luck – finding Bellingham in front of an empty net.
Be that at the Emirates, the Etihad or the Amex, it’s individual errors that have cost City. Their biggest enemy is themselves.
It’s something that has made Guardiola’s persistence in deploying the same personnel, especially off the bench at key times during matches, all the more confusing.
It was probably the most striking thing about City’s defeat against Real Madrid, given new signings Nico Gonzalez (£50million) and Abdukodir Khusanov (£33m) were left on the bench, with Guardiola instead turning to the tried, tested and in truth, tired legs of Mateo Kovacic and Ilkay Gundogan to help see out the match.
It’s not the first time either. Gundogan was brought off the bench while City were winning during last month’s clash with Brentford. They conceded a 92nd-minute equaliser.
Kovacic was turned to with City one goal to the good against United. They conceded a 90th-minute goal to lose the game.
It would be unfair to pin all of the blame on these players and the manager himself, as City’s issues are multi-faceted and run much deeper.
But if it’s not worked in the past, the law of averages suggests it probably won’t work in the future and after all, the definition of insanity is doing the same thing over and over and expecting different results.
Content Source: www.express.co.uk