The stuff of boyhood dreams for Kylian Mbappe but the continuation of Manchester City’s altogether newer nightmare and the confirmation of how far and how fast they have fallen. For Mbappe, his first great European evening at the Bernabeu yielded a hat-trick for the club he supported as a child. But, two years after winning the Champions League, City are out of it while Club Brugge remain in it. It has been a shocking fall from grace. And yet there was nothing surprising about elimination to Real Madrid: not to anyone who has watched their season. A 13th defeat in 26 games, a fourth in their last four away in Europe, was inevitable from the moment Mbappe lobbed Real ahead.
For Pep Guardiola, there was no remontada, no comeback for the ages, nothing to rescue City’s worst season in the Champions League for a dozen years or his poorest as a manager. There was just a defeat that was as comprehensive as it was predictable. City have had hard-luck stories in many of their Champions League exits. This wasn’t one of them. They were outclassed, the match stripped of its tension from the start.
