“Today we were lucky,” said a manager who likes to exert a level of control that means fortune is not a factor. Manchester City have come from two goals down to win 3-2 under Pep Guardiola before, when there was rather more at stake, when they won the Premier League title on the final day of the 2021-22 season. When they mustered a similar, if less important, comeback against RB Leipzig, Guardiola felt the context accounted for a strangely poor start. “I am pretty sure if we have to win the game to qualify, we would not play the way we played,” he said.
Not that it rendered it a complete one-off. It was Guardiola himself who invoked Chelsea, the first 4-4 draw in his managerial career and a game that had the feel of an anarchic anomaly. “It is not normal to concede four goals in the way we did against Chelsea and [two] today. It didn’t happen last season, that it is the truth,” he said. And if the scoreline at Stamford Bridge may remain unique, there are other elements to consider.
