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Sport

15th Mar 2017

A lot of rival fans enjoyed Man City’s Champions League exit

Leicester left flying the flag for England

Tom Victor

If someone told you in August that Leicester City would be the only English team in the last eight of the Champions League, you’d have struggled to believe them.

In fact, if they said that last week then you’d have been hesitant to agree.

However, while the Foxes have made their way into the quarter-finals after edging past Sevilla, both Arsenal and Manchester City have fallen in the round of 16.

Like Arsenal, defensive fragilities had a part to play in City’s downfall, as they conceded three goals home and away to Monaco to go out on away goals.

While rival fans might claim they don’t care too much about City’s European efforts, there often seems to be a desire to poke fun at their manager, Pep Guardiola.

Indeed, even before the final whistle blew at the Stade Louis II, criticism was coming his way.

After Monaco opened up a two-goal half-time lead, Guardiola had to make changes. That he did, but had the damage already been done?

A miss from Sergio Aguero was one of the flashpoints of the second half, and had he scored there’s every chance City would have progressed.

Soon enough, however, the predictable schadenfreude took over.

But did Guardiola have a bigger plan all along?

Perhaps not, on reflection.