No trophy for Manchester City’s Guardiola
Pep Guardiola’s first season in English soccer with Manchester City will end without a trophy.
He’s even facing a battle just to qualify for the Champions League.
Alexis Sanchez’s extra-time goal earned Arsenal a 2-1 victory over Manchester City in the FA Cup semifinals at Wembley Stadium on Sunday.
While Arsenal can look forward to an FA Cup final against Chelsea next month, City’s unravelling season will now be defined by finishing in the top four of the Premier League. With five league games to go, that’s far from certain.
City lies in fourth place and is now just one point ahead of bitter rival Manchester United, which made light of the absence of injured striker Zlatan Ibrahimovic in winning 2-0 at Burnley on Sunday.
City and United meet in a derby match at Etihad Stadium on Thursday that assumes huge importance for two teams who were expected to be challenging for the title this season, not scraping into the top four.
Guardiola won at least one trophy — often many more — in each of his seasons with Barcelona (20082012) and Bayern Munich (2013-16) but he’s found it harder at City, where he arrived as the most coveted coach in world soccer.
BURNLEY 0, MAN UNITED 2
United manager José Mourinho needs his forwards to step up in the absence of Ibrahimovic, who sustained a serious knee injury on Thursday, and two did so at Turf Moor.
Anthony Martial and Wayne Rooney were handed rare starts and responded with first-half goals in what proved to be a comfortable win for United against a team with a strong home record.
LIVERPOOL 1, CRYSTAL PALACE 2
Christian Benteke was sold by Liverpool to Palace for 27 million pounds in August as he didn’t fit into coach Juergen Klopp’s plans. He is proving the perfect fit at his new club.
The Belgium striker returned to Anfield and scored twice for Palace, the equalizer to cancel out Philippe Coutinho’s free kick and then a close-range winner from a 74thminute corner.