Pep Guardiola offended AS Roma when defending Manchester City’s failure to advance to the 2021-2022 Champions League final. Man City are certain to be eliminated from the race for the Champions League title this season after being defeated by Real Madrid 5-6 on aggregate in the semifinals.
Man City, which was predicted to be 99 percent of the time to advance to the 2021-2022 Champions League final in the 89th minute, did not live up to expectations. Two late goals from Rodrigo Goes in the 90th and 90+1′ minutes meant that the Ream Madrid vs Man City match had to go into extra time. The miracle sided with Real Madrid after passing the 89th minute. Karim Benzema’s penalty kick in the 95th minute made Man City lost to the Champions League final.
The defeat to Real Madrid also marked the sixth time that Pep Guardiola failed to bring Man City to the Champions League title. Man City’s best achievement while under Guardiola was reaching the 2020-2021 Champions League final.
In fact, The Citizens have spent a lot of money to dress up their squad. Since signing Guardiola as coach in 2016, the club have spent a total of £695.2 million on player purchases. However, according to Guardiola, the funds issued by Man City will not guarantee their success.
For comparison, this Spanish tactician also mentioned the Italian capital club he had also strengthened, AS Roma. “For me, it’s not a question of money, and the fans don’t realize it,” said Guardiola, quoted from Football Italia. “AS Roma have also spent a lot of money, but they are not in the Champions League,” he added.
It is not entirely clear where Guardiola got the idea that AS Roma is a club with big spending. Moreover, considering that AS Roma’s most expensive signing was only 40 million euros, namely when he brought in Tammy Abraham from Chelsea.
This season, the Giallorossi also bought Marash Kumbulla from Verona for 26.5 million euros and Eldor Shomurudov from Genoa for 18 million euros. In addition, AS Roma signed Matias Vina from Palmeiras for 13.6 million euros and Rui Patricio for 11.8 million euros from Wolves. In comparison, Manchester City spent 117.5 million euros just to recruit one player, namely Jack Grealish.
Under the tutelage of Jose Mourinho, Roma has been absent from the Champions League this season. However, Mourinho brought AS Roma through to the final of the third tier club stage in Europe, the UEFA Conference League
