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Pep Guardiola, Jack Grealish break Champions League records as Manchester City reach final

sportsmole.co.uk, 17 May 2023, 22:34
Pep Guardiola and Jack Grealish have both broken a Champions League record after helping Manchester City record a thumping 5-1 aggregate victory over holders Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

After playing out a 1-1 draw in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu last week, the Citizens dismantled Los Blancos with a ruthless 4-0 second leg win at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to set up a final showdown with Inter Milan in Istanbul on June 10.

Grealish posed a constant threat down the left flank and toyed with Dani Carvajal throughout the contest, but it was his teammate on the opposite flank who had the clinical touch in front of goal as Bernardo Silva scored two first-half goals to put City firmly in control of the tie.

Guardiola's side has a remarkable 78% possession in a dominant first-half as well as a total of 191 touched in the attacking third compared to just 10 for Real Madrid.

The Citizens picked up from where they left off after the break, with Manuel Akanji's deflected header adding a third for the hosts in the final 15 minutes before substitutes Phil Foden and Julian Alvarez combined in stoppage time, with the latter slotting home a fourth to cap off a historic night for the Etihad faithful.

City's four-goal victory over Real Madrid is Guardiola's 100th in the Champions League, becoming just the third manager in the competition's history to reach a century of wins after Carlo Ancelotti (107) and Sir Alex Ferguson (102).

However, Guardiola has reached 100 Champions League wins in the quickest time, doing so in just 160 games compared with Ancelotti and Ferguson who required 180 and 184 matches respectively to reach triple figures.

Guardiola has come out on top in 47 of his 74 Champions League games in charge of City, boasting a win rate of 64%, and his side have scored 174 and conceded just 75 in the process.

The Catalan boss previously won 30 matches with Barcelona between 2008 and 2012 before guiding Bayern Munich to 23 victories between 2013 and 2016.

Meanwhile, Grealish created three chances in the second leg and increased his overall tally to 35 in this season's Champions League, the most by any English player in a single campaign in the competition's history.

Grealish surpasses the previous record held by former Chelsea midfielder Frank Lampard who created 34 chances in 2007-08 and 32 chances in 2006-07.

Speaking to BT Sport after the match, Guardiola said: "At home we feel incredibly comfortable with our people. I had the feeling we had a feeling of one year of pain in our stomach. Today the pain went out. It was so painful, when people say lack of character. Congratulations for the entire club, chairman, owner, down to every person.

"A lot of work, we have to celebrate it. When you reach the final you have to celebrate it. Unfortunately we don't have time, because Sunday we can win the Premier League.

"I didn't feel tenson or anxious in any faces. I had the feeling we were ready to do a good performance."

Grealish added: "I don't think a lot of teams would do that to Real Madrid but when we are all together, and especially playing here, we feel unstoppable.

"I don't know what it is we just feel unstoppable, even in the league we feel no one can beat us. It is unbelievable."

Man City's treble-winning hopes remain alive and they will look to clinch their first piece of silverware this season when they play host to Chelsea in the Premier League on Sunday.

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