Big games against Los Merengues
The echoes of the resounding 5-1 aggregate (1-1 in the first leg; 4-0 in the return) with which Manchester City dispatched Real Madrid from the Champions League semi finals are still kicking . After the pertinent day of hangover, where happiness and analysis intertwine, it was time to render pending accounts. Pep Guardiola, questioned before unsealing the tie at the Santiago Bernabéu if there was any spirit of revenge for the miraculous white comeback last year, also in the semifinals, stated that there was no such spirit. However, the Santpedor coach seemed to contradict himself amid the skyblue euphoria unleashed after the move to the final, where he will face Inter Milan: “We played with the pain of a whole year in our stomachs ,” he said in the flash interview at the Etihad, aligning himself with the feeling of the locker room. Rodrigo Hernández, in fact, did tacitly refer to the term “revenge”. “Football gives you the option of revenge,” he declared at the press conference prior to the first leg.
Revenge from Jack Grealish
That revenge was taken very coldly by Jack Grealish . The English winger of the 100 million euros, heavily criticized after a disappointing first season in the sky of Manchester, missed two clear chances in last year’s tie. This year, in the first leg, he was certainly held by Dani Carvajal, with whom he had a personal duel in which sparks flew. In the return, along with Kevin De Bruyne or Bernardo Silva, he was one of the most outstanding, being the one who completed the most dribbles, the one who put the most crosses into the rival area and the one who made the most runs in the last third of the field.