Crappy final

This year's Europe League final was a bore between two teams who have been playing so badly this year that had it not been for their historical names, the final would have not been watched by anyone. The final was crowned by one goal that was so full of mistakes and coincidences that had it been a Sunday-match in the park, it would have been transmitted again and again on TikTok as a ridiculous play.

Yet, it was Tottenham's only "shot" "on target" the entire match, and enough to make them the most boring champions in world football ever, I dare say. 

Ange Postocoglu's Tottenham has finally proven that you do not need to try to score to win a tournament.

It was Tottenham's first title in 40 years (it appears that this year will be remembered as the-year-those -who-never-won-finally-win: like Crystal Palace and Harry Kane...), which is a sad irony considering the much better Tottenham sides in those 40 years.

Congratulations to their fans. 

What a shame for the rest of us.

The worst Manchester United side ever

 It is not the fans, not a journalist or pundit who recently called the current Manchester United side "maybe in the history of Manchester United". No, the one who said it was none other than the current Manchester United manager Ruben Amorim who said it following another Manchester United defeat in the Premier League, 1-3 at home to Brighton.

This is quite an incredible remark from a manager who only joined the side in November 2024, but who has not had the success that was hoped for (or expected). It was also a strange change for Mr. Amorim, who came from success in Sporting Lisbon, and joined a club who was already in an enormous crisis and it did indeed look that Mr. Amorim had to do something superhuman to change what was happening. 

And now it looks that Amorim has realised the truth: that the crisis in Manchester United is deep, very deep, and that it is about the entire club, not just the manager. 

Does his comment help?

I do not think it is wrong to say what many fans and journalists are already saying, and surely many in Manchester United thinking, specially after another loss, and it is a wake-up call to a group of still-highly paid footballers who are clearly not delivering on the pitch. Manchester United looks less as a team than a group of offended rich kids.

Mr. Amorim may be a great manager; at least he speaks truth, but what he will do about it, remains to be seen.

Starting up

 Following a post-tournament hangover and a pretty boring Olympic tournament that I did not even find worth writing about, we are now starting the European leagues with the Premier League starting yesterday when Manchester United defeated Fulham 1-0, starting a new season with a victory as they will try to improve on their 8th place in last year's PL.

In the meantime other favourites have also started well: Liverpool defeated Ipswich 2-0 with Mohammed Salah setting Diogo Jota up for the first goal and scoring the second himself. Arsenal, a side with huge ambitions after coming close to win the league the last couple of seasons, defeated Wolverhampton 2-o on goals by Kai Havertz and Bukayo Saka, while last season's number four, Aston Villa, defeated West Ham 1-2 and will the looking to repeat their great season.

The champions of the last four seasons, Manchester City, are playing tomorrow in a clash against a Chelsea side that also will want to improve on their 6th place of last season.

In Spain the league started today as well with Valencia losing 1-2 at home to Barcelona. I don't think we can expect anything from the Valencians while Barcelona will be looking to upset a Real Madrid side that frankly looks like nobody can threaten them.

I am moving soon. My TV is gone and my place is full of boxes, so I did not in fact watch the matches, but certainly expect to watch more soon!

United Champions

A nice quiet morning in San Salvador was enjoyed with breakfast, coffee and an FA Cup final between the local rivals of Manchester: City and United.

The FA Cup is always a great fight for prestige, and both teams were playing for a bit more; Manchester City to win another "double" after having taken the title, and Manchester United were playing to at least qualify for European football next season after having finished only 8th in the Premier League.

So a lot to play for.

Manchester City had the ball, had the ball, and had the ball. But it was the young Argentine Alejandro Garnacho who scored the first goal for Manchester United after a serious misunderstanding in defense between the goalkeeper Ortega and Josko Gvardiol. Ten minutes later Kobbie Mainoo scored a second for United in what was a splendid attack, and now it looked like a match where Manchester City had to show what they were made of.

Second half Manchester City pushed forward with new changes, including Julian Alvarez and Jeremy Doku, while Manchester United pulled back with a very solid wall in front of Cameroonian goalkeeper Andre Onana, who also had a great match.

Manchester City's pressure led to a late goal by Jeremy Doku that gave the last minutes of the match some tension, but in the end it appeared that Manchester United had no problem pulling the title home.

This saves the season for United, and is a small disappointment for City.

But otherwise, a nice morning in San Salvador, and now I am going to the beach.

Lazy Sunday matches

Despite it being a lazy Sunday at home I watched too great matches. The first was the FA Cup quarterfinal between Manchester United and Liverpool. 

Liverpool have ambitious goals now in Klopp's farewell season, while Manchester United is continuing its unstable ride under Erik ten Haag. It was nevertheless United who looked the strongest as the match got going and only ten minutes into the match it was the Scotsman, Scott McTominay who scored for United. Liverpool appeared uninspired but managed to put some pressure towards the end of the first half and it was Alexis McAllister who equalised, while Mohammed Salah brought Liverpool ahead just before halftime.

It was not fully deserved for Liverpool, but they showed some spine and appeared more confidence.

But confidence does not always translate into results: Liverpool pressured but they lacked concentration, both in attack and in defense, and they slowly let United into the match; three minutes before time Antony equalised for United after a clumsy Liverpool loss in midfield, and the match had to go into an exciting extra time (not that us neutrals cared). And just as the first half of extra time was ending Harvey Elliot brought Liverpool ahead 2-3, and they seemed to be in the semifinals, but again they lost concentration: Marcus Rashford equalised and in the last minute of extra time the young Ivorian Amad Diallo scored the winner for Manchester United after a quick counterattack following a Liverpool corner; a situation that seemed unnecessary (stupidly, Diallo got a second yellow card for taking his shirt off, and will miss the semifinal, showing him as a player that needs to grow...).

Manchester United will face one of the other victors this weekend: Manchester City, Chelsea, and every neutral's favourite, Coventry City, some the Championship!

The other match I enjoyed watching was La Liga match between Atletico Madrid and FC Barcelona. Atletico Madrid have the best home record in the league, but today FC Barcelona played perhaps their best match of the season, and one has to wonder if Xavi's resignation at the end of the season is in place.

FC Barcelona were completely dominant the entire match, and the few chances that the Madrileans had were taken care off by a strong Marc-Andre ter-Stegen. It was the former Atletico player Joao Felix who scored the first Barcelona goal after an elegant pass from Robert Lewandowski (Joao Felix used to plat for Atletico, and I found it unfair that the fans were after him throughout the match. He did show himself as the bigger man by not celebrating his goal though).

All in all, Lewandoski showed that he still has incredible skills, and his 2-0 goal in the second half was a typical center-forward goal, but the goal in the low corner from a difficult angle. It was the young Barcelona player Fermin Lopez who scored the third for Barcelona, who seemed to be enjoying the match as they have not done lately. 

This was the Barcelona we know...

With Girona losing to Getafe, Barcelona now takes second spot int he table behind Real Madrid. That said, with an 8-point difference it seems unlikely that Barcelona can overtake Real Madrid. That said, this result is a warning regarding their coming matches, in particular against PSG in the Champions League.

 

Champions League elimination round

 The Champions League Group stages (the last ones in this format) have just ended. 

The elimination of two English sides was one of the first surprises: Manchester United were shambles, and ended bottom of Group A, which was totally dominated by Bayern Munich, while FC Copenhagen took first spot after having defeated Galatasaray on a cold day in Copenhagen. Copenhagen, although a reluctant surprise, will now face the defending champions, also from Manchester. City have been awesome, winning all their group matches, and will (hopefully) be too much for FC Copenhagen.

Another English team that ended bottom were Newcastle. After trashing Paris St. Germain, it appeared they had something to offer, but only two draws and three defeats and they were out. It is all the more improbable, because a victory at home in their last match against AC Milan could have put them through as Borussia Dortmund and PSG tied 1-1 (in an exciting match), but AC Milan won, and took third spot.

While the Spanish sides of Real Madrid, FC Barcelona, Real Sociedad and Atletico Madrid all won their groups, the former greats of Sevilla were as much a shadow of themselves as they have been in this season's La Liga. They ended bottom of the group behind Arsenal, PSV Eindhoven and Lens.

German sides will be represented by three sides: Bayern Munich, Borussia Dortmund and RB Leipzig, while from Italy's Serie A, Napoli, Inter and Lazio have made it through.

All in all we are looking at some interesting knock-out matches starting in February:

• FC Porto-Arsenal
• Napoli-FC Barcelona
• Paris St. Germain-Real Sociedad
• Inter Milan-Atletico Madrid
• PSV Eindhoven-Borussia Dortmund
• Lazio-Bayern Munich
• FC Copenhagen-Manchester City
• RB Leipzig-Real Madrid
  

Manchester City on the way

 Arsenal has had a great season under Mikel Arteta, and for a long time have been leading the Premier League, which they have not won since 2004. But for the last month mighty Manchester City have been edging closer to the top as Arsenal's run started to falter, and last week Manchester City edged much closer when they defeated Arsenal 4-1 in Manchester, and with two games less than Arsenal, took all cards to get the title into their own hands.

Today they took the first ace in the race to win the title, when they defeated West Ham 3-0, with goals by Nathan Aké, Phil Foden, and mighty Erling Halland, who already has 35 goals, the most in a Premier League season (and surely it will be a few more). With five games to go, and four for Arsenal, Manchester City appears likely to win the title, and also being in the FA Cup Final (where they will face Manchester United) and still in the run for the Champions League (where they will face Real Madrid), it appears that this could still be the greatest season for Pep Guardiola's team.

Sevilla on the way

 Sevilla are the side that has won most Europa League titles, and today they continued on the way to win their 7th title when they took out Manchester United 3-0 at home in Seville. The first match in Manchester had surely been thrown away bu the Reds as they went from 2-0 ahead to a 2-2 result in the last minutes, with captain Harry Maguire scoring an own goal as equalizer. And Maguire was also the culprit at the start of the match when he threw away the ball to Youssef En-Nesyri, and the Moroccan made sure he scored. There was later no marking in the center when Loic Bade made it 2-0 after a corner kick, and towards the end of the match David de Gea also gave away a goal to Youssef En-Nesyri, when he misplaced a kick that the Moroccan easily scored on.

It was a poor showing by the English side, but more so a sure show by the Andalusians, who look at the team to defeat to win the Europa League title.

7-0 wow

 Since Erik ten Haag became Manchester United manager the team has done better, and they are currently third in the Premier League. Liverpool in the meantime is fighting to be in the top four. So today’s classic match between the two English giants was a spectacular match for Liverpool, who trashed their rivals 7-0 in what is their biggest victory over Manchester United ever.

It did not look like it would end like that after a tight first half where Liverpool was leading only 1-0 on a magnificent strike by Cody Gakpo. But in the second half goals poured in on de Gea: Darwin Núñez scored twice, Cody Gakpo also scored again, Roberto Firmino scored the last goal, while Mohammed Salah, with two goals, became Liverpool’s all-time Premier League goal scorer.

Liverpool are in fifth place, just behind Tottenham, but is looking like a CL candidate again. Manchester United remain third, but Erik ten Haag probably has some things to think about.

Another Manchester derby

Another great match between United and City. City went ahead by Jack Grealish, and one had the feeling that they could hold, but led by a splendid Marcus Rashford Manchester United came back to win 2-1, with Rashford himself scoring the winner. All this despite the fact that the equalizer was controversial: Rashford was in a clear off side position but did not touch the ball as it went to Bruno Fernandes who scored. That said, in my view, Rashford clearly had influence on the play (he followed the ball without touching it), and directly influenced the movement of the defenders.

But this is one of those controversial plays that no VAR or anything can answer, and at the bottom why we love football!

Since Cristiano Ronaldo left, Manchester United have not lost a match, and after a weak start of the season they are now on third place, one point behind Manchester City. The United victory was good for Arsenal, who remain as leaders of the Premier League with five points ahead of Manchester City, and with what will be an exciting clash with Tottenham tomorrow, where a victory would put them further ahead in the league.

Cristiano Ronaldo to Saudi Arabia

Cristiano Ronaldo is undoubtedly one of the best players of his generation, but I think that lately he has made some strange choices that in my view does not make him one of the all time greatest. We all knew he appeared arrogant, but also know that this arrogance-bordering self-confidence remains one of the reasons for his immense footballing qualities. At the same time, his antics in the World Cup when his goal against Uruguay was (correctly) awarded for Bruno Fernandes did not point at a man who may think he is above the team, something that is never good for a group. It was understandable when the manager Fernando Santos took him off for the following match against Switzerland, and his replacement, Goncalo Ramos, scored three goals. 

In the end Portugal fell against Morocco, and the entire team, not least Ronaldo, complained about everyone but themselves (this was sadly a common tendency in the world Cup where many teasm still see themselves as the correct World Champions, were it not for referees and other conspiracies). 

So it was not a good World Cup for Ronaldo. 

But it also happened in the midst of a crisis in Manchester United, where he had publicly criticised the club for disloyalty. This is always a strange thing to do, and does not help the team-spirit that is necessary for any club to succeed. So it is also understandable that Manchester United decided to let him go. 

Now, Cristiano Ronaldo is such a fantastic players that I have no doubt that he had many offers. That said, many major clubs must also have had reservations at an ageing superstar that appears to be acting more and more in his own interest. Therefore, it is not surprising that Ronaldo has taken an offer outside Europe, Saudi Arabia´s Al-Nassr, where he is allegedly to receive a salary of around 200 Mio per year… 

In the Saudi league there is not likely to be much attention around the Portuguese as there would have been had he joined for instance the MLS. This is perhaps good for him at a time when his star has fallen a bit. That said, it will be interesting to see how much more football there is in this player that has given us fans so much over the past decade.  

Manchester-Manchester

 I have not had much time to watch or think football lately. I have missed many great matches, but today I took time to get up early and watch the Manchester Derby between Manchester City and Manchester United. Both teams have looked fairly strong of late, with Manchester City trailing Arsenal in the second spot of the league table, and Manchster United on a positive curve, with four victories in a row. Therefore the derby was expected to be interesting.

But it was not.

Basically Manchester City trashed United in the first half, leading 4-0 at halftime. The entire team seemed on fire, and with Phil Foden and Erling Haaland in particular, each scoring two goals. In the second half Manchester United tried meager pressure, and perhaps got a bit of hope when Antony scored for the reds. But Foden and Haaland were not done and each scored again, to bring the score to a humiliating 6-1. In the dying minutes of the match Anthony Martial scored two for United, making sure that the humiliation was not total, although no doubt there will be strong criticism for losing like they did to their home-city rivals.

Haaland has surely been the signing of the season. He has scored 14 goals, topping the goalscorers list, which he appears sure to win!

Manchester United in trouble

It is seldom one sees as one-sided a classic match as that between Manchester United and Liverpool on Saturday, when Liverpool gave United a legendary trashing of 0-5. Despite all of Manchester United´s weaknesses, one must first give credit to a Liverpool side that has found its groove from a couple of years back, and who will be battling for the Premier League title with Chelsea (and possibly with Manchester City, but I predict a race between Liverpool and Chelsea). Mohamed Salah, with three goals against Manchester United, is back as possibly the best striker in the world at the moment, while balance in defense and midfield seems to be perfect for Liverpool. 

 In the meantime Manchester United has no defence, and it was incredible to see two such experienced players as Harry Maguire and Luke Shaw being outplayed again and again by Liverpool´s attacks. Cristiano Ronaldo is a threat by the mere fact of his immense talent; a World Class Player without a doubt, but it does seem that the team is struggling tactically to integrate him. It is a pity to have a player of such quality only to show him off rather than to make the team better, but that is what seems to be happening. A lot of people are saying that Ole Gunnar Solskjaer should leave as a manager, and with these results it is hard to disagree with, although there is also a feeling that the problem is deeper that the Manager, and that Manchester United, despite its immensely talented squad, needs something else to improve.

Ronaldo's return to Manchester

Cristiano Ronaldo will return to Manchester United, the club that saw his career take off after he joined them at the young age of 18, and spending six years there, winning three Premier League titles and the Champions League in 2008. In 2009 Ronaldo changed to Real Madrid, where he spent nine years that made him a legend, with four CL titles and 450 goals (the most scoring player in Real Madrid's history). 

Ronaldo's last three years in Juventus saw him win a Serie A title and scoring an amazing 101 goals. But it was perhaps not what Ronaldo expected, and the transfer to United has happened amid stories that he wanted to leave.

Manchester United may be his last club, as he is already 36 years old (but in amazing physical shape), but also a club that will clearly be fighting for titles during the season: Ronaldo will be joining a club with Paul Pogba, Marcus Rashford, Luke Shaw, Bruno Fernandes, Fred, as well as Raphael Varane (former teammate at Real Madrid). 

I think all football fans should be grateful that we will continue to see a fantastic player for more years at the highest level.

Mano a Mano

The Europa League final 2021 today was a good match. Manchester United and Villarreal were both concentrated and well-organised in a match with chances for both teams. In my view Manchester United were a bit better, and surely deserved the second-half equalizer by the ever-brilliant Edison Cavani. But in the end 1-1 was a fair result of a good match. 

That said, the match will mostly be remembered for the outcome of the penalty kicks: 11-10! There were only a few near misses in what generally represented two of the best-prepared teams for penalty kicks that I have ever seen. Both team´s players appeared cool-headed and concentrated for every kick, most of which were excellent with little or no chance for the Manchester United´s and Villarreal´s respective goalkeepers, David de Gea and Geronimo Rulli. 

At the score 10-10 it was time for a "mano-a-mano" between the two goalkeepers: first Geronimo Rulli scored elegantly against de Gea, before the Spaniard´s shot was saved by Rulli, giving the title to Villarreal and turning the Argentinean goalkeeper into the unexpected hero of the day! 

This is a historical victory for the team from the small town in the Province of Castellón. Their first European title!

Sevilla-Inter Milan final

Sevilla and Inter Milan are the two most successful sides in the UEFA Europa League/Cup since its creation in 1971: Sevilla has been in five finals, and won them all (2006, 2007, 2014, 2015, 2016), while Inter Milan have been in four finals, and won three (1991, 1994, 1998).
Sevilla has made it to their sixth final as if the cup belongs to them. While Manchester United had its moments in the semifinal, one never felt that Sevilla was nervous or that they would not be able to turn around being 0-1 behind, and indeed, they made it with a well-deserved 2-1 victory.
But they will not have it easy against an Inter Milan side that under Antonio Conte appears confident and plays with discipline and organization. In their 5-0 victory against Shakhtar Donetsk was achieved by these qualities as well as a superb attacking due in Romelo Lukaku and Lautaro Martinez (each one scored two goals) that Sevilla's defense will have to control to have a chance.
Although I never bet, I think that Inter Milan has a small edge to take the Cup that Sevilla has won so often!
Don't miss it!

Monday match

I don't like Mondays. And today's Europa League Monday match between Manchester United and FC Copenhagen was a disappointment worthy of a Monday.
The historical part of the match was that two Norwegian managers who had both played on Norway's 1998 World Cup side faced one another: Ole Gunnar Solskjaer for Manchester United and Staale Solbakken for FC Copenhagen.
The Danes started well, but as the Argentine commentator on FOX Sport said: they need to score on their chances. And they certainly did not, and as time wore on they became slower and took no risks. Despite this, they were a better side than a very bad Manchester United side, which only seemed to depend on occasional bursts by some of its star players. It had to go into extra time for Anthony Martial to be awarded a very small penalty (I guess that the referee just wanted it all to be over with as well) that Bruno Fernandes converted against FC Copenhagen goalkeeper Karl-Johan Johnsson, who was without a doubt outstanding in an otherwise tiring match.
Manchester United will face the winner of Wolverhampton-Sevilla.

Top 10 Best Teams of 2017

This is my highly personal list of what I consider the most noteworthy (not necessarily the best or my favourites!) teams of the football year 2017:

10) Gremio: Winners of the South American Copa Libertadores they became the third Brazilian club to take a third title. They represented South America in the Club World Cup.
9) Panama: Panama qualified for the World Cup for the first time ever in a dramatic final round of CONCACAF qualification which left the giant favourites of the USA out, and a small and underestimated Central American country with a huge and well-deserved party!
8) Manchester City: After a 2016/17 season without titles Manchester City is now a well-oiled machine under Pep Guardiola, leading the Premier League in style, and so far cruising through the Champions League. Although they went out of the 2016/17 Champions League in the last-16 against Monaco, that was plausibly the most incredible match of a year with many incredible matches.
7) Manchester United: Jose Mourinho is the easiest man to dislike in modern football, but one cannot deny his amazing skills as a manager; after some initial difficulties he is taking Manchester United back to the top. They won the Europa League, have cruised during their return to the CL (and must be considered favourites against Seville in the last-16) and are the greatest threat against Manchester City's dominance in the Premier League.
6) Chelsea: Winners of the Premier League (and FA Cup finalists only to lose to their rivals of Arsenal), they have nevertheless had more difficulty in the PL this season, as other teams have made things more difficult. In any case they are through in the CL, where they will face mighty Barcelona.
5) Wydad Casablanca: a fantastic football year for Morocco (who also qualified for their first World Cup since 1986) is best represented by the success of Wydad Casablanca, who won their second CAF Champions League title ever in a memorable two-legged final against Al-Ahly.
4) Paris St. Germain: After winning the league for 4 seasons in a row the French title in the 2016/17 season went to Monaco, which was a disappointment for the ambitious French side, who also were eliminated from the CL in a memorable but disappointing two-legged clash against Barcelona. But with the arrival of Neymar Paris St. Germain are one of the most exciting teams to watch in Europe, and are first in the league as well as have been playing outstandingly in the CL, where they will face Real Madrid in what promises to be one of the most exciting matches in 2018.
3) Juventus: Juventus won the Italian league in 2017 for the sixth season in a row, and made it to their second CL final in three years, disappointingly losing to Real Madrid. They have struggled more in the new season, as they trail Napoli in Serie A. In the CL they trailed Barcelona in the group stage, but will face up and coming Tottenham in a very interesting last-16 encounter.
2) Real Madrid: Had it not been for their last few months, where they trail Barcelona, Atletico Madrid and Valencia in the Spanish league, they may have made first spot. However, nobody can deny that they had a great year, taking the Spanish title, the Champions League title, the Spanish Super Cup, and the Club World Cup. Undoubtedly a great side is in a low form currently.
1) Netherlands Women: During a year when Dutch men's football had a horrible year, and national team football was generally boring, the women gave us a fantastic European Championship (far better than the men's in 2016), won in a memorable final by the Dutch hosts against a great Danish side. The Netherlands are my team of the year!

Some other teams who deserve to be on the list, but did not make the top ten are FC Barcelona, Liverpool, Valencia, Monaco, Independiente, Tigres de UANL, FC Qarabag, Brøndby, Denmark's women, Cameroon, Iceland, Trinidad & Tobago...

Europa League Final

Tonight I watched the Europa League Final in a bar in Monrovia, amid massive rain, which made it difficult to listen to the commentary, but at least it was possible to watch the match and drink beer.
Manchester United were not likeable as they played on their far superior experience against an Ajax Amsterdam side of charming youngsters who were surely up past their bedtime. Ajax hardly had a shot on goal as their naive attack crashed against Mourinho's defensive wall, in what was a bit of a disappointing final, as it never seemed Manchester United's victory was in any doubt whatsoever.
Manchester United are now in the Champions League next season why they, and Mourinho, can add another European title to their stack.
And in Monrovia, the rain continued.

The Manchester Derby

Probably no other match this season has been as awaited as the clash between Manchester United and Manchester City: The clash of two of the greatest clubs in the world, from the same city. Two football philosophies clashing; Mourinho versus Guardiola.
It had every ingredient for a great match, and it did not disappoint, with a high level of drama and fantastic play.
In the ever-rainy week in Monrovia, I almost panicked when my TV at home had no signal to send the match, so I hurried into my car to find a place to watch it. I was disappointed that I had to go to a couple of places near my house in Sinkor, but finally, five minutes into the match, I found a place to watch it.
I had not seen the lineups, but it was only after 40 minutes I realized that Paul Pogba, the millionaire signing, was playing....
Manchester City were all over in the start, playing a high pressure football that one has come to connect with Pep Guardiola. An outstanding Kevin De Bruyne scored the first goal, while Sergio Aguero's replacement, the 19-year old Nigerian Kelechi Iheanacho, scoring the second goal on a ripost from a DeBruyne shot.
At this point it seemed like Manchester City could tear United apart.
But then two of the new players the clubs have invested in took over: the new goalkeeper Claudio Bravo could not reach a high ball, which went to the ever-threatening Zlatan Ibrahimovic, who scored a goal that looked easier than it really was.
The fantastic Zlatan has scored four goals in as many matches for Manchester United and is proving that at 34 years he is still on fire.
Claudio Bravo on the other hand looks like he has a mountain to climb. Coming in for the club's legendary goalkeeper Joe Hart, he looked insecure and tired throughout the match. Guardiola preferred Bravo to Hart due to Bravo's apparent better technique, but even there he looked extremely weak.
I do not understand why Guardiola preferred Bravo over Hart. Yes, technique is important, but more so it is to have a solid and popular guard on goal, who knows the club and enjoys the respect of fans and teammates alike. It seems to me Bravo will have a long way to achieve that, and he could cost more goals.
In the end it meant nothing today: Manchester United put excellent pressure on City in the second half, in particular when Marcus Rashford came on the pitch. There will surely be more pressure on Mourinho to have the youngster start the following matches.
In the end City came out victorious, but much closer than it had seemed at one point in the match. Be sure the next match will be as dramatic!