sport news IAN LADYMAN: Pep Guardiola will never have a better chance to end Man City's ... trends now
There are members of Manchester City's squad who have still never watched the moment last year's Champions League aspirations were washed away at the Bernabeu.
For Pep Guardiola, that was never going to be an option. So the City manager sat down at home two days ago and watched again one of the most remarkable and catastrophic five minutes of his career unfold all over again.
'I watched the two games against Real again to see again what happened,' said Guardiola on Monday night.
'What I saw was that we played exceptionally but it was not enough. That is football.'
The details of May 4 2022 at the Bernabeu will never quite leave the memories of City supporters perhaps until their club finally manages to win the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola rewatched last year's Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid
Karim Benzema scored a penalty to complete the turnaround which knocked out Man City
Guardiola's team were 1-0 up on the night and leading 5-3 on aggregate late in the second game of last season's semi-final. They were on the threshold of a final meeting with Liverpool in Paris.
But a couple of close calls at one end - substitute Jack Grealish denied once by a goal line clearance and then from Thibaut Courtois' toe end - were followed by two goals at the other. Both Real goals came in added time. Soon after, Karim Benzema completed the turnaround with a penalty in extra time.
'I haven't watched it again,' said City defender Rodri on Monday.
'But what I do know is that we had 180 brilliant minutes and it wasn't enough. Maybe we didn't handle everything the right way but at the same time some things in football are unexplainable.'
Sitting in the media room deep beneath a famous stadium old stadium that remains deep in the middle of a rebuild, both Guardiola and Rodri alluded to fundamental changes that have taken place in the City team these season.
Whether City are a better team than last season is open for debate but they are certainly different. Erling Haaland, City's remarkable young centre forward, is one of the reasons for that and he will bring his team's efforts something that they did not have last season.
Equally, it should not be forgotten just how well City did play when these teams met last season. Much has been made of how Real - 14 time
