Blue reigned supreme in Manchester and put United’s red in the background. Sir Alex Ferguson, During decades of luxury at Old Trafford, he described City as “the noisy neighbour” with a certain swagger. Now the tables are turned.
In 2023, the ‘sky blues’ became the first English team to win five titles in one year. In addition to the treble (Premier, FA Cup, Champions League) achieved by United in 1999, City added the European Super Cup and the Club World Cup to complete a unique repoker in the UK.
Sixty million immediate return
Pep Guardiola He needs a ‘killer’ for City to win its first Champions League, the title it has been fighting for since the arrival of its owners from the United Arab Emirates in 2008 and the Catalan coach in 2016.
The chosen ‘killer’ is Erling Haaland. Sixty million euros in transfer fees, along with huge commissions in between, cost City his signing from Borussia Dortmund in May 2022, but the inexhaustible checkbook has finally paid off.
Haaland notes
Haaland did not score on his debut against Liverpool (1-1) in a Community Shield decided on penalties. It was the only title, along with the League Cup (they lost 2-0 to Southampton in the quarterfinals), that eluded City last season.
But Haaland (he turned 23 in July) has broken all the records that have and will be in the Premier, featuring 36 goals in 35 games, surpassing Andy Cole and Alan Shearer’s 34. Now he has 50 goals in 50 league games, another galactic record like 52 goals in 53 games overall last season.
Arsenal remained on the beach
Arsenal have been at the top for 248 days but City overtake them with four games to go and three games to go (they have one pending) to secure their fifth Premiership in six years.
Kevin de Bruyne is the king of assists (16) and Haaland’s main partner. The captain and now Barcelona Ilkay Gündogan and Bernardo Silva are decisive at important moments and Rodri took a step forward with goals like the one that gave City the Champions League. Haaland scored 12 but the Madrid native beat Inter in the final (1-0).
Champions, European Super Cup and Club World Cup
Sevilla, Dortmund and FC Copenhagen crashed out of the league, Leipzig in the round of 16 (with five goals from Haaland in the 7-0 Etihad), Bayern in the quarterfinals and Real Madrid in the semifinals after a memorable 4-0 in Manchester.
A week earlier, the FA Cup went down 2-1 to eternal rivals United at Wembley. In August, Sevilla surrendered on penalties (1-1 and 5-4) in the European Super Cup and in December Urawa (3-0) and Fluminense (4-0) also failed to stop City in the Club World Cup, the fourth (record) for a Guardiola with 37 titles as a coach. Only Sir Alex Ferguson has more than him with 49.
Source: La Verdad
I’m Rose Herman and I work as an author for Today Times Live. My expertise lies in writing about sports, a passion of mine that has been with me since childhood. As part of my job, I provide comprehensive coverage on everything from football to tennis to golf.
