PREMIER LEAGUE PEP’S NOU Made in Manchester, but Guardiola’s City are
PEP GUARDIOLA might be a long way from home this Christmas – but when he surveys the Etihad right now it’s beginning to look a lot like Barcelona.
From the yellow ribbon supporting Catalonia on his bomber jacket to a football philosophy fashioned at the Nou Camp, Pep Guardiola is Barcelona right down to his trendy boots.
But whatever Barcelona can do, Manchester City are proving they can do it even better.
On El Clasico day in Spain, Guardiola and his City slickers chose to unleash another wonderful display of attacking power that even old pals Lionel Messi, Andres Iniesta and Gerard Pique would recognise as a bit special.
Guardiola saw his stars romp to a 17th straight win that lit up the Etihad Stadium thanks to a Sergio Aguero double, a 12th league goal of the season for Raheem Sterling and another from full-back Danilo.
It capped off another remarkable show of swashbuckling football from City, who show no signs of slowing down as 2017 draws to a close.
Once – in Guardiola’s Nou Camp heyday – Barcelona were the gauge for excellence.
Sparkle
And as they ambushed rivals Real Madrid in the Bernabeu yesterday their fans no doubt revelled in victory.
But if City played Barcelona next week you’d happily put a tenner on Guardiola getting the better of his first love.
For City are fast rewriting the rulebook on benchmark football and despite sticking to his mantra that eventually someone will beat them in the league, his stars clearly aren’t listening.
Against a Bournemouth team who had damage limitation as their main aim from the opening minute, City were faced with a familiar problem of a packed defence.
That’s sometimes a stretch even for many of the leading Premier League teams – but not Guardiola’s City.
They have so many players who can sparkle that the prospect of a collective off-day seems impossible to imagine.
In recent games it has been Kevin De Bruyne and David Silva torturing opponents. Yesterday it was the turn of Aguero and ever-improving winger Sterling to shine.
Aguero’s future is continually a topic of speculation and when he chucks his gloves to the ground in frustration as