I really hope that City don’t get their hands on Mendy
It would be a real shame to see this Monaco team dismantled
MANCHESTER CITY are going to need around £50million if they want to sign Monaco leftback Benjamin Mendy and they have the money, the need and the ambition to pursue one of the best defenders in Europe.
But I hope they don’t succeed. While I would love to see Mendy in the Premier League, I hope they don’t break up the Monaco team which reached the Champions League semi-final this week.
The French side are just sensational to watch, full of athletes and exciting attacking players who have already scored more than 100 goals this season. It would be a shame if their best players are sold to Europe’s bigger teams and the side dismantled.
Although I love the Monaco team, I think Juventus will have too much for them in the Champions League semi-final and, just as they did against Barcelona, the Italian champions can do a job on them to reach the final.
The other semi-final also sees panache meeting pragmatism as Real Madrid are matched with the hard to beat Atletico once more.
Atletico Madrid were brilliant over the two legs against Leicester City. When they scored that second goal in the tie at the King Power Stadium, it was bound to be over for Leicester because there was no way the Spanish side would allow the home team to score three and beat them to the semis.
Diego Simeone’s team are pragmatic and solid, defending across the width of the pitch, as Juve do, and, whoever they encounter, they can lift themselves to get a result.
On the whole, Atletico have had the beating of Real Madrid over the last few years, except when it has mattered in the two big ones in the Champions League. Perhaps it will be third time lucky this season.
Does Barcelona’s quarter-final exit spell the end of their era? If any side could have overcome the three-goal first leg deficit to Juventus – as previously achieved when 4-0 down to Paris-Saint Germain – it was Barca, but in the end, Juventus were just too good for them.
The second leg in the Nou Camp in particular, highlighted the serious lack of legs in the Barcelona team. Monaco are absolute machines in comparison, and real athletes throughout the side with lightning pace and a player like Silva brings a touch of class.
Obviously Barcelona still have real quality but they are possibly too reliant on their magical trio of Messi, Neymar and Suarez.
If you look through the rest of the side, Iniesta and Rakutic are not at the level they were a couple of years ago, Busquets needs more legs around him and there is no Puyol to lead them from the back.
Then, when you look at Luis Enrique’s bench on Wednesday, there was no one there who looked capable of changing the game for Barcelona. In the past, the likes of Alexis Sanchez, Thierry Henry and Pedro were there to make a difference, but that depth of quality isn’t present at the moment.
Iniesta is a great and one of my favourite midfielders of the last 10 years. But there was a delay to everything he did in midweek and he was just too slow, sadly. It is going to be a long and difficult process replacing players like him and a tough job for Enrique’s successor.
Having missed out on the Champions League, and playing catch-up in La Liga, tonight’s El Clasico is even more important for Barcelona to salvage something from the season. Lose or draw tonight and their title challenge could be all but over.
In the semi-final of the Europa League, Manchester United drew Celta Vigo and avoided a seriously talented Ajax team. Most of the Dutch first team are under 23 and I don’t think they would fear facing a Manchester United team over two legs, or in the final for that matter.
Although United have trouble killing sides off and make life difficult for themselves, as we saw against Anderlecht, that is the final I am expecting.
Finally, speaking of semi-finals, today sees the FA Cup clash between Manchester City and Arsenal, and two managers looking for success for different reasons. If Arsenal go behind early, and City start to dominate, I can see it turning nasty between Arsene Wenger and the club’s supporters, which would be a real shame. The Arsenal manager doesn’t deserve that. But I think City will win. This is a chance for Pep Guardiola to win a trophy in his first season.
Of course he would prefer to be winning the Premier League and still in the Champions League at this stage of the season, but he is laying the foundations at City and it would not be a bad start as he, no doubt, prepares to spend heavily in the summer.