MY DREAMS WILL COME TRUE IF PEP CAN WIN IT
I joined City at 14. We were rough around the edges. Conquering Europe? Forget it. That’s why…
KHALDOON AlMubarak delivered his words calmly and clinically. He had been Manchester City chairman for two years and, in the summer of 2010, wanted to spell out his aims.
‘We want to play in a Champions League final,’ he told me. ‘This is where we want to be.’
Things were moving quickly at my club but, even still, I couldn’t quite take this on board. I’d joined City as a 14-year-old.
I remembered being told stories about how, when it rained heavily at our Carrington training ground, a certain part of it used to flood allowing old players to have impromptu swims.
That was City. We were rough around the edges, not a ruthless, slick winning machine. My first season — four years before that chat with Khaldoon — had ended with us losing nine of our final 10 matches. On our day, we could give top English teams a game but conquering Europe? Forget it.
But when Khaldoon sets his mind to a project, he invariably makes it happen. He thinks about things in a completely different way to anyone I’ve ever met but he is also prepared to be patient. He reinforced this at the end of our conversation.
‘ There are going to be moments in the future when people will expect us to win and we won’t,’ he said. ‘But we will get there one day.’
He was right. I remember our early Champions League games. The first match, in September 2011, was a 1-1 draw with Napoli, the second was a 2-0 defeat by Bayern Munich that you might recall for being the night Carlos Tevez refused to come on.
Personally, my memory is of a game that left me questioning whether I could play at the highest level.
My task that night was to try and contain Philipp Lahm and Franck Ribery. Their movement was such I didn’t know whether I was coming or going.
Yes, I had played for England but the Champions League is different. Joleon Lescott once told me that when he heard the anthem before one of those early matches, his heart started racing quicker than ever before because the reality of what we were going to do hit him.
We had frustration initially. We got 10 points, after doing the double over Villarreal and beating Bayern Munich at home, but it wasn’t enough to get through. The following year, we ended up in a group of death with Real Madrid and Borussia Dortmund and failed to progress again.
This was what Khaldoon meant. The way we were perceived had changed because of the financial backing we had and we had to contend with criticism that we couldn’t cut it in Europe — it is a criticism with which the club have been dealing for a decade.
I’ve never hidden the fact City have spent money to get to this stage. The old Manchester City, barring a miracle, would have struggled to get close to football’s best competition and it needed massive investment over a sustained period to transform our fortunes.
But I would argue this: are City the only club who have been spending since 2010? No. They most certainly are not.
Manchester United have spent fortunes in the same period, so have Chelsea. So, too, have Paris Saint-Germain, Juventus, Real Madrid and Barcelona. Spending is no guarantee in this arena.
Even the appointment of Pep Guardiola was not an instant route to success. Gradually, however, the right players have been brought in, a way of playing has been perfected and, tonight in Porto, City have a glorious opportunity to put it all right. Everything that City
have done since the Abu Dhabi investors bought the club in 2008 has been building to this moment.
I won’t say they will never have a better opportunity to lift this trophy but I do know what good shape they are in for this assignment.
I stood on the side of the pitch last Sunday for the 5-0 win over Everton and, genuinely, I saw Phil Foden and Kevin De Bruyne playing a different game to the one I knew.
The speed, the touch, the ability to change direction is unreal. What they are producing is fantasy football.
City deserve to be favourites. I have maximum respect for Chelsea and I said, at the beginning of the month, I was happy to admit I was wrong in my initial judgment about Thomas Tuchel — anything less than 100 per cent from my old club and there will be more heartbreak.
You shouldn’t forget, either, that Champions League finals rarely go as you expect and history tells you there doesn’t tend to be many classic encounters. It only takes an injury, a contentious refereeing decision or a mistake and the tone can alter completely.
But this is what it is all about for City. My dreams will come true if they win it and I cannot imagine the elation the players will feel.
Forget about money for a moment — you go into football because you want the adrenalin surge that comes with silverware. For Guardiola, I’d imagine relief would be his biggest emotion at the end of it all. He’s been on a crusade for a decade, putting himself under intense pressure in both Manchester and Munich.
As it stands, he hasn’t won much different in comparison to former City managers Roberto Mancini and Manuel Pellegrini but now he can change that.
This is the moment when the transformation can be complete. This is the moment for City to make history.