Real Madrid, a side that was once hailed as dominating international football, solidified their status as Manchester City’s “bogey team” during the match at the Etihad Stadium.

Real Madrid once again showed their strength in their most recent Champions League matchup against Manchester City, who were struggling against the league’s most fearsome opponent. The Whites were able to reveal weaknesses in the Citizens, who are going through a difficult rut from which they don’t seem to be able to recover, during their matchup in the knockout stages. The English team is on the verge of yet another setback this season, and Pep Guardiola has yet to discover the magic recipe to turn things around.

Although there were brief moments of joy for City supporters during the first leg of the knockout phase, criticism of the Sky Blues has been common, as mentioned in ‘El Bar’ episode 133, which calls this decline the most puzzling situation in football.

Former football player Jofre Mateu highlighted City’s worrying lack of passion and competitiveness in his reflections on the game at the Etihad. “The City never gave the sense that they really wanted to play in this match,” he said. They looked tender. Guardiola is not exempt from criticism, thus this created a sense of unease about him.

According to journalist Eloy Lecina, the incident is the “most inexplicable case I have seen in football.” He said, “It feels like they have encountered every adversity possible… there is no match context where they can think ‘okay, we are doing something right for a change, let’s drive it home.'”

After researching the issue further, Adrià Albets, a journalist for SER Catalunya, provided a concise summary of his findings: “To me, the explanation is that the team is burnt out.” He noted that Guardiola’s high expectations on his players could cause them to reach a breaking point. “He’s been with City for a long time, and sometimes the more experienced players say ‘again, again.’ while the newer players aren’t used to this kind of pressure. Guardiola is here, magnified to your desired level.

Lecina also brought attention to the odd irony of playing Real Madrid again, a team that might provide the ultimate blow to City’s aspirational goals to mark a new era in football, with this season’s poor performance. “Madrid has a significant hand in City’s decline,” he declared. The comeback at the Bernabéu against a squad designed to win numerous Champions League titles, as well as the two matches in which we eliminated them via penalty shootouts, have been two severe blows.” Lecina went into further detail about his opinion that “Real Madrid has effectively dismantled this project.”

Lecina was upbeat about “El Bar,” even though it could be too soon to rule out City in this quarterfinal match. “The tie is already heavily lined up against them,” she said. Madrid is unlikely to lose against City at the Bernabéu if they can duplicate even a small portion of what we seen earlier.”