We’re almost at the end of the 2022-23 European season, and the talking points keep coming. Manchester City completed the second leg of their attempt at the treble, wrapping up the FA Cup win over rivals Manchester United and now turning their attention to the UEFA Champions League. Real Madrid‘s longtime star, Karim Benzema, announced his surprise exit this weekend, scoring in his final game for the club … and giving them a chance to properly and authentically rebuild.
Elsewhere, RB Leipzig won the German Cup, Inter Milan continued their positive momentum ahead of Saturday’s CL final, Paris Saint-Germain‘s season ended in dismal fashion and the legend, Zlatan Ibrahimovic, brought his career to an end after 24 brilliant seasons.
– Stream on ESPN+: LaLiga, Bundesliga & more (U.S.)
It’s Monday, and for the final edition of Musings in 2022-23, Gab Marcotti reacts to the biggest moments in the world of football.
Two down and one to go, but for Pep Guardiola and Man City, it’s all about the Champions League
There are his words, not mine. “More than … the treble, is the fact to win the Champions League,” Pep Guardiola said. “We have to admit it, without the Champions League — it has been amazing, it has been fun — but we are missing [something]. We have to do it.
“We get more and more credit for what we have done these years, we have done many things, but I said to the players ‘you have to put the pressure on yourself, to be recognized as something good, you have to win in Europe.'”
It’s an understandable thing to say, but it’s remarkable when, for the longest time, Guardiola’s tune was rather different. After seven years of being asked pretty much variations on the same question (“How important is winning the Champions League to you?”) and replying in a very rational if rather coachspeak-y way (“We want to be the best that we can be, sometimes in a knockout competition there are things you can’t control, the league is the best measure of what you are achieving”) he sounded like a fan. And maybe a bit irrational, too, because he knows full well that in 90 minutes — just like Saturday’s Champions League final against Inter — anything can happen.