Supported by the most sophisticated and consistent defensive framework that football fans have ever seen, invading the rival field and animated by a suffocating man-to-man pressure that connects it to the association game with the same frenetic impulse, Manchester City persuaded West Ham to that it was useless to resist. Two goals from Foden and one from Rodri, the most important players of the season in England, sealed the fate of a unique team. The 3-1 victory crowned Pep Guardiola’s team with his sixth Premiership in the last seven seasons and consolidated an unprecedented hegemony in English football since the current league format was established in 1992.
3
Stefan Ortega, Walker, Gvardiol, Rúben Dias, Manuel Akanji (Aké, min. 70), De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Foden (Kovacic, min. 90), Rodrigo, Jeremy Doku and Erling Braut Haaland
1
Areola, Zouma, Konstantinos Mavropanos, Cresswell, Ward-Prowse, Emerson (Edson Álvarez, min. 70), Coufal, Tomas Soucek, Lucas Paquetá (Ings, min. 86), Mohammed Kudus and Michail Antonio (George Earthy, min. 81 )
Goals 1-0 min. 1: Foden. 2-0 min. 18: Foden. 2-1 min. 42: Mohammed Kudus. 3-1 min. 59: Rodrigo.
Referee John Brooks
Yellow cards Edson Álvarez (min. 75)
This Saturday, on an almost summer afternoon in Manchester, the blue team became the first to lift the Premier League in four successive campaigns. He did it in one of the closest English leagues ever, the highest scorer since 1965, with a scoring average of 3.3 goals per game, and against an Arsenal and a Liverpool that added points with championship value in other editions. Faced with progressively enormous obstacles. Against the supervision of the Premier, whose charges for alleged violation of the fair play financial between 2009 and 2018 have forced their leaders to sell players for more than 300 million euros from 2022; against the most radical defensive reaction that has been recorded in recent years, against rivals like United or Arsenal, who opposed it by locking themselves in their areas as they had never done before, this club that until two decades ago was just a folkloric manifestation of provinces has been transformed into a subversive power. United, Liverpool, Tottenham and Arsenal, the four traditional powers of the 20th century, continue to have more of a social base. It is not surprising that the majority of English football fans and institutions leaned towards the victory of Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, the most tenacious contender (they defeated Everton 2-1 on the last day), and the one that has invested the most in reinforcements.
Since 2019, Arsenal had more than €500 million in net spending on recruitment. Almost double City’s net spending in that period, and much more than what it has spent since 2022, some 315 million in transfers offset by approximately 305 million in income from the sales of Palmer (55 million euros), Laporte (35 ), Mahrez (45), Sterling (55), Gabriel Jesús (55), Zinchenko (45) and Lavia (15). The Premier’s supervision of spending control forced City to take exceptional measures. Chelsea, Arsenal, Tottenham and United raised their expense accounts more than City in the last two years.
“Everyone is talking about the Premier’s charges against City for alleged non-compliance with the rules of fair play financial,” said Jürgen Klopp, in his penultimate conference as Liverpool manager; “But I don’t know what that means. I only know one thing: whatever Manchester City has done with their accounting, Guardiola is the best manager in the world. It’s what’s really important. If you put any other coach at City he doesn’t win four Premiers in a row.”
It is repeated by the experts consulted in the technical secretariats of Liverpool, Bayern and Chelsea: City does not have the most expensive squad in the world. In fact, City only lacks one ingredient to be on par with the teams of that era, according to what its coaching staff believes: the charm of an unappealable star. Without a Messi, without a Cantona, a Zidane or a Cruyff, this team is defined by the camaraderie, humility and associative spirit of its members. That Rodri is the most consistent of his figures reveals the nature of a phenomenon inexplicable without the crisis of elimination from the current Champions League.
The harangue and Guardiola
They say in the club that Guardiola gathered his players after what for many was the most depressing night of their careers. On April 17, Madrid had eliminated them from the Champions League in the penalty round after an unprecedented development in the recent history of football: with 33 shots against and eight in favor. Without being able to explain the enigma of so much sterile dominance, in a depressing climate, the coach encouraged himself and his players by pointing out an unexplored horizon. They were alive in the Premier and in the Cup. If they won the league, they would become the first team in history to win four Premier titles in a row. If they then won the Cup final – scheduled for May 25 against United – they would enter the hall of immortals. They would be the third team in the history of European football, after Neymar and Messi’s Barça, and Guardiola’s own Bayern, to achieve the League-Cup double after winning the League-Cup-Champions triplet.
Inaccessible since losing to Villa in December, City went unbeaten in the 32 games they played in all competitions. The field invasion that followed the victory at the Etihad, this Saturday, consecrates a campaign that places Guardiola as the coach with the most national leagues of the century: three in Spain, three in Germany, and six in England. Twelve of the fifteen that he played.
You can follow Morning Express Deportes inFacebook andxor sign up here to receiveour weekly newsletter.
