12 HRS AGO - Defender injured hamstring during win at Real MadridGuardiola says 70% of the issues facing him are off-pitchAymeric Laporte will be out for up to a month with the hamstring injury suffered in Manchester City’s 2-1 win at Real Madrid on Wednesday.The central defender, who may miss six matches, is unavailable for Sunday’s Carabao Cup final and the Champions League last-16 return with Real on 10 March. Related: Football Leaks' Rui Pinto in prison with hard-drive passwords in his head Continue reading... Collapse

15 HRS AGO - Pep Guardiola could become the first manager since Bob Paisley to win three successive League Cups, yet victory would be a footnote to history unless they add the Champions LeagueManchester City’s long-term vision for Europe may be under threat and Liverpool’s lead at the top of the Premier League all but unassailable, yet Pep Guardiola could still write himself into the history books on Sunday if he becomes the first manager since Bob Paisley to win three successive League Cups.If that sounds more like a footnote to history than anything of greater significance it is because the early season knockout competition has diminished in importance in the intervening years, while City themselves are clearly set up for grander ambitions. Related: Premier League and Carabao Cup: 10 things to look out for this weekend Related: Gabriel Jesus: relentless, tenacious, and now ahead of Sergio Agüero? | Barney Ronay Continue reading... Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Villa try to break Manchester City’s League Cup stranglehold, Vardy needs a goal and Moyes must rouse HammersSince he scored 14 goals in 12 league games between late September and 21 December, in which he failed to find the net in only two matches (one of them against Norwich), someone has turned off Jamie Vardy’s scoring tap. In that free-scoring period there seemed to be no stopping him: he may not have been on the scoresheet against the Canaries, for example, but he played excellently and threatened constantly, and it was his (off-target) header from James Maddison’s corner that Tim Krul flapped into his own net for the equaliser in a 1-1 draw. But since Christmas he has not scored at all, and in six league games this calendar year he has had only eight shots – 50% of them against Manchester City last weekend – and only four on target, the most recent against Chelsea on 1 February, 235 pitch minutes ago. Brendan Rodgers’ priority must be to turn that tap back on. SB Related: Moyes Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Part of the thinking behind the signing of Brazilian was that he would in time become City’s most effective striker. Perhaps this has now happenedGlory, glory Hallelujah, é Gabriel Jesus. The busker outside the Maracanã knew his audience. For a while the walkway to the stadium was closed before Brazil’s Olympic final, the pre-match crowd backing up down the stairs as fans in yellow shirts sang along to the in-vogue dirge of the Rio games, a chant set to the tune of the US civil war song about John Brown’s body mouldering in his grave, and adapted here to take in the feats of a slightly-built 19-year-old utility attacker from the northern slums of São Paulo.Six months on from the Rio Games Jesus would find himself looking a little cold and sad on breaks from hotel life in wintry Lancashire, a latecomer to the first raft of players to join Pep Guardiola at Manchester City. Fast forward another three years, 38 goals, four trophies and two semi-serious injuries, and City’s roving Collapse

1 DAY AGO - Manchester City manager reverted to principles he wrote on his whiteboard in 2015 to beat a deeply ordinary Real Madrid Revel in the irony: of course it would be just as the great rupture comes that Manchester City at last produce a great European performance.Enlightenment is achieved through the abandonment of desire. And yet even within that irony there are deeper ironies, the suspicion that a great European performance may not actually have been necessary, the suggestion that Pep Guardiola’s true opponent was less the 11 men in different coloured shirts than himself, and the realisation that good as City were, this Real Madrid are deeply ordinary, little more than the memory of a team despite their branding. Related: There is something shifting at Real Madrid, some sense of vulnerability | Sid Lowe Two against four in attackAn extra man in midfield An extra man in defence Continue reading... Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - • Belgian scored crucial penalty in historic 2-1 away win• Guardiola says tie is not over ahead of second legKevin De Bruyne revealed that Pep Guardiola had surprised even his Manchester City players with his tactical approach to the stunning 2-1 Champions League last 16 first-leg win at Real Madrid.The City manager omitted Fernandinho, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Agüero from his starting line-up and used De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva as central attackers in a 4-4-2 formation, with Gabriel Jesus working on the left wing. Continue reading... Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - Vinícius Júnior shone brightly for Madrid but Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus rose highest in the endThibaut Courtois Related: Manchester City secure famous win at Real thanks to De Bruyne and Jesus Related: Juventus face uphill battle after Lucas Tousart strikes for underdogs Lyon Continue reading... Collapse

2 DAYS AGO - City came from behind to take a precious first-leg advantage while Sergio Ramos was sent off for Real Madrid 10.26pm GMT And with that, I’m done. A fascinating game, and a fantastic victory for Manchester City, who having won in Spain and with Sergio Ramos suspended for the second leg are in control of this tie. Bye! 10.25pm GMT Pep Guardiola has a chat. He’s asked whether he pulled off a surprise tactical masterstroke:Because we won. Important is the way we played. We tried to come here to win the game and we did it in this stadium. It’s just the first part and if one team can overcome this situation it’s this club. But of course it’s a good result. I’m so proud of course, but it’s just the first step. We have another game, so it’s not over. But enjoy it, of course, we spoke about that, enjoy the moment, good dinner, regeneration, on Sunday we have a final and keep going in the Premier League and prepare for the second game against Madrid. I would say [when we were at our best] we Collapse