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The Guardian - UK
The Guardian - UK
Sport
Barney Ronay at Parc des Princes

Pep Guardiola’s lonely City players sum up a side losing the sense of itself

Pep Guardiola gives instructions to Matheus Nunes in Paris
Pep Guardiola gives instructions to Matheus Nunes on a night when Manchester City lost after leading 2-0 in Paris. Photograph: Gonzalo Fuentes/Reuters

Slowly, and then all at once. This is how Manchester City collapse these days. Pep Guardiola once described his ultimate fever dream as a coach, the goal at the end of all this detail; which is essentially to have the ball for 90 minutes, creating his own frictionless Pep-world of total control. Well, that might just have to be parked for a bit. Probably best not to watch this one back for a while, either.

At the Parc des Princes City produced one of the strangest performances of Guardiola’s time. Everyone has an off day. Human error happens. What stood out in, a second half during which City went from 2-0 up to 4-2 down, was how lonely the players looked out there, a team utterly losing the sense of itself.

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