[ad_pod ]
Raheem Sterling collects the ball from Sergio Aguero in his stride inside the penalty area, before rifling the ball past Hugo Lloris into the bottom corner.
Mauricio Pochettino looks ill. The Tottenham players look crestfallen, sunken to their knees.
Contrastingly, Pep Guardiola sprints off down the touchline, jumping for joy and punching the air.
His Manchester City side are seemingly through to the Champions League semi-finals, and with that, his lack of success in Europe’s greatest club competitions can no longer be used as a stick to beat him with.
But no. VAR has ruled the tie-winning goal out, and the Spaniard looks like he’s just seen a ghost. He sinks to his knees, head in hands, and Spurs get away with one. He knows that the criticism will continue, and the weight has been placed back on his shoulders.
Who would win out of Man Utd’s treble winners and Man City today? Fans discuss in the video below…
Guardiola only ever made it to the semi-finals of the competition in three years with Bayern Munich, and has never made it past the quarter-final stage with City.
He has only won the competition with Barcelona. With Lionel Messi. With the likes of Xavi and Andres Iniesta.
Since leaving arguably three of the best players the world has ever seen, he has been toothless in the competition.
That much has been used against him time and time again, his successes at Europe’s top table put down to the former of that otherworldly trio in Messi, but how much of an impact is the Argentine having on his own side’s chances at Champions League success?
Barcelona have won just a single Champions League in the previous eight years with Messi, the man who many proclaim to be behind Guardiola’s glories in the competition.
How can he be behind it if he himself has won it just once since Guardiola has left?
Messi is world-class. The best in the world. But the Champions League is a cup competition, first and foremost. Are Raheem Sterling and Sergio Aguero worse players than Fernando Llorente and Lucas Moura? No.
But Tottenham are in the final and City aren’t.
Guardiola is an excellent manager, perhaps the best coach in world football right now and in the history of the game.
Putting his Champions League successes down to Messi is an unfair thing to do, and the diminutive Ballon d’Or hoover’s recent struggles in the competition show that anyone can fall victim to it’s madness.
Guardiola’s greatness must be recognised without consistently highlighting his performance in the Champions League.