‘SPECIAL’ CITY SWAN INTO RECORD BOOKS
PEP GUARDIOLA hailed his ‘special players’ as Manchester City swept into the sixth round of the FA Cup with a recordbreaking 15th successive win.
City beat Swansea 3-1 to seal a 200th victory for manager Guardiola and keep the Premier League leaders firmly on course for a repeat of their 2019 domestic treble.
Kyle Walker, Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus struck to give City a deserved success, as they surpassed the previous best of 14 straight wins from a top-flight team by Preston in 1891-92 and Arsenal in 1987.
‘It shows how special these players are,’ Guardiola said. ‘The record will be broken for sure, because sports is like this, but it means a lot. To do what we have done in the winter time and Christmas time is quite remarkable. It is the toughest time but what is important is the way we are still playing with our consistency.
‘We cannot deny how pleased and proud we are to break a record from a long time ago. It is not easy in the modern era, 15 games in a row.’
Guardiola made seven changes from the side that won 4-1 at Liverpool on Sunday.
Swansea goalkeeper Freddie Woodman saved early efforts from Jesus and Ilkay Gundogan, while Jesus and Aymeric Laporte missed from close range.
A goal seemed inevitable, and it came after half an hour. A cross from Walker (pictured) was aimed towards the forwards in the middle but neither Ferran Torres nor Jesus could apply a touch and the ball evaded everyone to nestle in the net.
Jay Fulton headed narrowly wide for Swansea soon after, as the hosts valiantly tried to hit back.
But straight after the break, it was 2-0, with Rodri splitting apart the Swansea defence with a lovely pass and Sterling sweeping the ball home.
Three minutes later Jesus rifled in a third goal for City to put the outcome of this fifth-round tie beyond doubt.
Morgan Whittaker netted a late consolation for Swansea, who battled throughout.
LIVERPOOL’S decades-long quest to lift the Premier League trophy finally ended in dramatic fashion last season and how they achieved it is the subject of film The End of the Storm, which has recently premiered on Sky Documentaries.
Like the BBC’s Liverpool FC: The 30-Year Wait [BBC iPlayer], The End of the Storm tells the story of a campaign which, as well as being the most remarkable ever staged, was to eventually end with Jordan Henderson becoming the first Reds captain since Alan Hansen in 1990 to hoist aloft English football’s greatest prize.
From season opener against Norwich to finale with Chelsea, the film follows the club through the highs and few lows of a season in which, until the coronavirus pandemic took hold, they looked all set to wrap up the title before spring had sprung.
However, for all its slick packaging and stylish presentation, the film is something of a disappointment, falling some way short of offering a true insight into what went on behind the scenes as the club brushed aside their rivals
The film is something of a disappointment, falling some way short of offering a true insight
in a relentless march to the title. Too much time is taken up zig zagging across the globe to speak to fans and not enough on home soil learning how they came to break this 30-year drought.
While there are welcome contributions from the likes of Alisson, Virgil van Dijk, Sadio Mane and the aforementioned Henderson, it is only the regular appearances of Jurgen Klopp that keep interest alive for all but the most devoted fans.
Much like his Tottenham counterpart Jose Mourinho, Klopp is one of the few top-flight managers that demand your attention and one thing the film-makers do get right is making the most of the German’s box-office appeal.
Whether talking about his relationship with his father or the dubious honour of holding the record for the most dismissals for a manager in the Bundesliga, Klopp rarely fails to entertain.
And that toothy grin is very much in evidence as he reveals how, in his first match as Liverpool manager at Spurs, it occurs to him how good looking the opposition are and how his own players looked like something out of Star Trek.
Klopp’s a treat but, sadly, even he can’t prevent The End of the Storm from blowing itself out.