If nothing else the fight is still in this Manchester City squad | OneFootball

Watching Manchester City go down 3-2 to Real Madrid on Tuesday evening was a frustrating experience. At 2-1 up in the 85th minute, Pep Guardiola’s side shouldn’t have thrown the game away. But errors from Ederson, Mateo Kovacic and Rico Lewis allowed Real Madrid the opportunity to leave the Etihad with a crucial victory. Watching the game in its entirety, you were left with the feeling that the fight is still there in this Manchester City squad. But physically they cannot match that desire.

From the start of the second half of Tuesday evening’s UEFA Champions League knockout play-off first-leg tie Real Madrid seized the initiative in the game. After Manchester City took a 1-nil lead into the interval after an Erling Haaland goal, Carlo Ancelotti’s side went up a gear. Kylian Mbappe’s equaliser had been coming when he scored on the hour mark. After Erling Haaland gave City the lead in the 80th minute from the spot, you still had the sense that Real Madrid had an equaliser or more in them, and that’s what unfolded. In the end, you can just tell that as hard as Pep Guardiola’s side worked, they aren’t capable of physically keep up with their opponents.

In the end, everything caught up with Manchester City on Tuesday, and it has across the season.

That’s what you can’t knock about this City squad. The fighting spirit is still there. You can see it with their efforts on the pitch. Bernardo Silva never stops trying. He just doesn’t have the quality he once did and he looks tired. You can say the same about Kevin De Bruyne and others. Players routinely come back from injury and are being thrust straight into big games. That is costing City dearly. See Nathan Ake, Manuel Akanji and Jack Grealish from Tuesday’s match. Akanji and Grealish went off injured. Ake lasted an hour in his first match back from injury. But Pep Guardiola doesn’t really have a choice but to play those players at this stage. Those are the options at his disposal. That’s not going to change until the summer.

But that’s the point. You can’t knock the effort of Manchester City’s players. It’s still there. It’s just that physically they can’t do it anymore. It’s not a statement made off the back of Tuesday’s loss to Real Madrid. It’s an assessment of City’s season since Rodri went down with an ACL injury in September. City’s collapse against Real Madrid mirrored so many we have seen recently. See City’s collapses against Brighton, Brentford, Manchester United, PSG, Feyenoord and others for example. There are other reasons for this. But the overriding feeling for me is that the fact that this Manchester City squad physically can’t maintain their expected level for 90 minutes is part of the reason, alongside errors, a lack of confidence and a host of other issues.

But now that the Real Madrid result has settled it’s clear to see that this Manchester City squad still maintain their fighting spirit. They showed it against the European champions. But physically they can’t match their desire. There’s no shame in that but it’s just the sad reality of the situation Pep Guardiola’s side are facing.