Pep Guardiola is under the cosh more than ever before at Manchester City - but it's clear he has Erling Haaland's unwavering support. City have endured by far and away their most turbulent season in recent memory, currently sitting in fifth place in the Premier League standings with just 12 wins from 24 games thus far. And the side have also failed to impress in Europe, barely making the knockout qualifiers of the Champions League after finishing 22nd in the new league phase after eight games.
It went bad to worse for City on Tuesday evening, as two late goals saw them suffer a 3-2 defeat in the first leg of their tie with Real Madrid at the Etihad. They will now have to bring their A-game to the Bernabeu in the reverse fixture next Wednesday if they hope to progress to the round of 16. However, star striker Haaland showed that the dressing room still have plenty of faith in their coach of nine years back in December, with a simple on-pitch gesture and some respectful words directed towards the 54-year-old. City travelled to the King Power Stadium to take on Leicester City as 2024 neared a close, securing a 2-0 win thanks to goals from Savinho and Haaland - and in the wake of the victory, the latter walked over to his manager and shoved him towards the travelling fans who were chanting his name.
A smile cracked across the face of Guardiola at the time, who had just secured his first away victory in six games following losses to Aston Villa, Liverpool, Brighton and Bournemouth, as well as a stalemate with Crystal Palace. Elsewhere in December, Haaland also showed belief in his manager by insisting: "He will find the solutions." He continued: "He has been doing that every single year. "We still believe in him, we have to work harder than ever right now." Since taking the reins of City in 2016, Guardiola has won six Premier League titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups, three Community Shields and a Champions League - securing a treble in the 2022/23 season.
However, the 2024/25 campaign has been a million miles away from that level of success, with their last league outing coming in the form of a 5-1 thrashing from Mikel Arteta's Arsenal, while a 4-0 defeat to a struggling Spurs earlier in the season also raised eyebrows. The cup competitions are realistically Guardiola's only chance of silverware now, making the defeat to Real all the more painful. Haaland opened the scoring with a well-placed volley from inside the box following a pinpoint ball over the top from Jack Grealish, which was chested into his path via Josko Gvardiol. And while City looked largely in charge of the game for the first half, the second was a completely opposite state of affairs.
Kylian Mbappe levelled the playing field on the hour, running in behind before slicing the ball into the far right side of the goal after Ederson was wrong-sided by the effort. Haaland then put City in front again with 10 minutes left to play by coolly converting a spot kick after Phil Foden was brought down in the area by Dani Ceballos. However, Los Blancos equalised once more in the 86th minute thanks to Brahim Diaz following up a parried shot from Vinicius Jr, which Ederson should've done better with. City's worst-case scenario was then completed when Vinicius Jr broke past Rico Lewis down the left-hand side before chipping the ball over to Jude Bellingham in the centre of the box, who poked it home to allow Real to run out victorious in the second minute of three added on.
City will now have to travel to the Bernabeu next Wednesday to overturn a one goal deficit, should they hope to face Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16 of the tournament. It seems things might well get worse before they get better for Guardiola - but he's safe in the knowledge that he's got the backing of his players regardless. Join our new WhatsApp community and receive your daily dose of Mirror Football content. We also treat our community members to special offers, promotions, and adverts from us and our partners. If you don't like our community, you can check out any time you like. If you're curious, you can read our Privacy Notice.
TNT Sports gives you access to games across the Premier League, Champions League, Europa League, Serie A and many more. You can also watch the biggest clashes in boxing, UFC and the get exclusive action from MLB all for one payment every month. You can watch TNT Sports through BT, EE, Sky, and Virgin Media. Get the FREE Mirror Football newsletter with the day's key headlines and transfer news straight into your inbox.
