Manchester City celebrated its ninth Premier League win this Sunday with a comfortable victory over Chelsea, and with the option to book players for the remainder of the season, with a bank of more than €500 million.
Pep Guardiola, after his masterclass against Real Madrid, left players such as Erling Haaland, Kevin de Bruyne, Ilkay Gundogan, Rodrigo Hernández, Bernardo Silva, Rubén Dias and Ederson Moraes on the bench, a total of 500 million of which the Spanish coach did without and that he was a Chelsea didn’t have to break for days.
A Julián Álvarez goal in the opening minutes was enough to satisfy the local fans, in what was practically a walk, a tribute to the champions in which Chelsea were missing for much of the game and only Raheem Sterling was the expensive one for the’ Blues’, whose only goal for the final day is to finish eleventh instead of twelfth.
Álvarez, who started for Haaland, took advantage of a blatant Wesley Fofana loss in the twelfth minute to score the only goal of the match. The centre-back handed the ball to Phillips, who handed it back to Cole Palmer and the youth player left Álvarez in the penalty area to cross the ball for Kepa Arrizabalaga.
City were able to kill the game quickly, with a Palmer shot that took Trevor Chalobah on the goal line or Phil Foden’s Vaseline attempt that skimmed over the top corner, but in bursts Chelsea made it 1-1. First with a one-on-one that Stefan Ortega took out by stretching Sterling and later with a header from Conor Gallagher that went into the woods.
As the minutes passed, the game took on the color of a friendly, of a game with nothing at stake, and the chances were reduced, the pace deteriorated, and the two teams just wanted the referee to blow the whistle; one to collect the league title and another to bring the end of a terrible campaign closer.
Still, City got past the second goal on a few occasions, with a shot off the post from Phillips, starting for the first time this season, and a goal disallowed by Álvarez for a handball from Riyad Mahrez during the build-up of the game. .
City have two league games left, this Wednesday against Brighton and next Sunday against Brentford. With nothing on the line, Guardiola will use these games as a test bench for the FA Cup final (June 3) and the Champions League (June 10), the real challenges City face this season.
Source: El heraldo
I’m George Gonzalez, a professional journalist and author at The Nation View. With more than 5 years of experience in the field, I specialize in covering sports news for various print media outlets. My passion for writing has enabled me to craft stories that capture the attention of readers all over the world.
