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#2 City have choked in Europe in the last two seasons under Pep
There’s no beating around the bush – in his three seasons at the Etihad, Pep Guardiola has turned Manchester City into a pretty terrifying team to have to face. At their best, City are a well-oiled machine who tear through their opponents and make them look like rank amateurs. Their 7-0 victory in the second leg of the Round of 16 against Schalke was probably the most impressive showing of the round, in fact.
But it’d be false to claim that City have been infallible in Europe over the past couple of seasons. The fact that they’ve never won the Champions League obviously points to that, but it’s not like they’ve been unlucky in the last two editions of the competition – if anything, when push has come to shove, City have choked in Europe.
2016/17 saw them take a 5-3 lead over Monaco in the first leg of their Round of 16 tie – only to lose 3-1 in the return leg thanks to some slack marking allowing Tiemoue Bakayoko to score the fatal goal, sending Monaco through on the away goals rule in one of the biggest upsets of that season’s Champions League.
Guardiola seemed to have his team performing better last season as they swept aside their foes in the group stage and then destroyed Basel in the Round of 16, but a shock 3-0 loss in the first leg of their Quarter-Final tie with Liverpool – and a subsequent 1-2 loss in the return match – dumped them out prematurely again.
City will be looking to make this year third time lucky, of course – but based on their past performances there’s no guarantee that they won’t choke on the big European stage again – and allow Spurs to pull off the big upset.
