Yahoo Sports Football needs hell-for-leather games like Man City vs Monaco where goals crash in and defensive gurus are given night off
The rich kept robbing the rich here, with Monaco expertly snatching goals from Manchester City’s suspect defence but also conceding five themselves in a game of thrilling openness.
That noise off-stage is academics denouncing the chaos of an eight-goal first-leg tie, but few who were in the stadium will take much notice. They saw the continuing rebirth of Radamel Falcao, who disappeared in English football, and Sergio Aguero reaffirm his importance to City. They saw John Stones taken apart for Falcao’s second goal but then claim one at the other end. It was such a wild contest you might call it decadent. But in the end, City will take a two-goal lead to the principality against a side who will be hurt to have played so well yet still conceded five.
This is not the way Guardiola will have planned to progress. Yet, progress they will, if they can carry this never-say-die outlook south on 15 March. Few would bet against the second-leg resembling the first. On this evidence, Monaco will look to overwhelm City’s porous defence a second time, and City’s creators and finishers will have to work a double shift again.
“When two teams want to play that way - attack and attack - the game is marvellous,” Guardiola said, reminding journalists that this is why he was lured to City. He is no fan though of defensive incontinence. Nobody is.
This was the Silva derby, with David (Manchester City) and Bernardo (Monaco) decorating a tie that has become a must-see in Monaco next time round. These two teams brought the best out of one another on a night for virtuosos. It was as if a pact had been agreed by two expressive sides to try things, let skill run free, entertain the crowd.
They brought out the best, but also the worst for City: the defensive vulnerability that characterises the Guardiola transition. City, semi-finalists last year, have much to offer Europe, but this vibrant Monaco side were sent by a spiteful god to expose the biggest task facing Guardiola: the construction of a rearguard capable of stopping teams who know how to slice them up.
Credit City, though, for striking back again and again. All across the field, attacking players felt emboldened to do what came naturally, with twists and turns, flicks and razor blade passes. Half an hour in, Guardiola was seen frantically coaching his defenders to move the ball forward more positively. But there was not much need to tell the 22 out there to be adventurous.
Monaco’s dazzling homegrown contingent grabbed their chance to show why they are a superior side in France to PSG, who last week beat Barcelona 4-0. At the heart of midfield, Tiemoue Bakayoko, 22, carries the ball with great conviction. Kylian Mbappe, 18, is one of those quick, agile and assured young forwards any fan would love to see their club buy.
Bernardo Silva meanwhile is surely the next great European No 10, assuming he is allowed to play centrally. His dazzling footwork and sweeping passes down City’s left-hand side were hellish for the makeshift left-back, Fernandinho, who was part of a back-four regularly torn apart by Monaco’s raids. Lemar, another attacking midfielder, was no easier to handle as he connected beautifully with Mbappe and Silva.
Dismiss all thoughts of Monaco being plankton in a Champions League of sharks. This is a serious side: league leaders, with 76 goals from 26 outings in France’s top division.
Guardiola has won all seven of the round-of-16 ties he has contested as a manager but never had he attempted to impose his defensive philosophy on players seemingly incapable of putting it into practice. A shortage of quality is one obstacle. The mid-pitch spin by Mbappe that left Nicolas Otamendi dizzy was followed by the City defender running back and jumping in with no hope of reaching ball or man. Worse followed when a contentious penalty was awarded against Otamendi for fouling Falcao in the box. Stones has his moments, but Otamendi is the most erratic of Guardiola’s stoppers.
This was the wrong game meanwhile for Stones to be trying to work out what Guardiola wants from him. Monaco were too fast and dangerous for England’s most expensive defender to be looking to the coaching zone for guidance.
Whatever difficulties they have at the back, Guardiola has at least instilled a fierce urge to fight back and not be disheartened by defensive aberrations. At 3-3 City poured forward, scoring twice more and sending the Etihad crowd into raptures. Why should any neutral care that this was was a rugby score? Guardiola should, because he expects Monaco to score at home, but for the rest of us it was pure indulgence.
Football needs these hell-for-leather games where the goals crash in and defensive gurus are given the night off. The clearest evidence of City’s spirit was that Monaco were stressed and panicky in the last 10 minutes as they lost control of a game they must have thought they had won. City cannot go on being so easy to score against. This season, though, we might as well get used to it, because the cast of characters will not change.
Guardiola’s description of the way Monaco attack was memorable and accurate: “They arrive with a lot of people.”
