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Paul Merson shares what Manchester City just can’t seem to do any more as he slates two players in loss to Real Madrid
Manchester City’s season continues to go from bad to worse as they fell to a heart-breaking late defeat to Real Madrid in their Champions League play-off on Tuesday night.
Manchester City twice led in the game at the Etihad Stadium, but Real Madrid came from behind both times before netting the winner in stoppage time.
Erling Haaland struck twice for Pep Guardiola’s side, but goals from Kylian Mbappe and Brahim Diaz ensured that Real were level towards the end of the 90 minutes.
Then, in the second minute of stoppage time, Jude Bellingham slotted home Vinicius Jr’s delivery to give the reigning European champs the advantage in the tie.
Paul Merson has now made his feelings known about Man City as he criticised two players and shared what he feels the team is no longer capable of doing.
Paul Merson criticises Manchester City duo Ederson and Rico Lewis as ‘two glaring errors’ made
Merson, speaking on Sky Sports News, noted how Manchester City goalkeeper Ederson should have done “much better” in the build-up to Diaz’s goal.
The £35million man not only gave away possession with a poor goal kick, but then pushed Vinicius Jr’s shot straight to Diaz.
“It was a case of two glaring errors from Man City,” said the pundit.
“First, Ederson has the ball in his hands and City are 2-1 up. He tries to side volley a goal kick and it goes horribly wrong and goes straight to Bellingham.
“He picks the right pass to Vinicius Jr and his shot bounces off Ederson before Brahim Diaz scores the rebound, I think the Man City goalkeeper should do much better.”
Merson then noted how Rico Lewis gifted Vinicius the ball in the build-up to Real Madrid’s winner.
“Vinicius Jr then just gets in front of Rico Lewis and he’s away on goal,” said Merson.
“He lobs it over the goalkeeper and the ball is going horribly wide but Jude Bellingham follows it up and scores.”
Paul Merson says Manchester City no longer seem capable of seeing games out
Merson then said Man City no longer seem to be capable of seeing games out, with the Real Madrid loss being the fifth time this season in which they’ve lost a match they were leading.
The Arsenal legend proceeded to give Man City no hope of turning the tie around when they head to the Bernabeu next Wednesday.
“The old Man City used to play a game of 90 to 95 minutes every week,” said Merson. “They just can’t seem to do it now.
“I don’t know what it is, whether they just switch off or whether it is just an ageing team. The older you get, the more tired you get and if you get tired the more mistakes you make.
“They just seemed to switch off… they did really well for a lot of the game. Of course, they rode their luck at times as you do against a quality side like Real Madrid.
“But they will be so disappointed. We are not even in the middle of February yet and Man City are just playing for the FA Cup.
“I don’t give them a chance in the second leg. I’ve seen enough in Real Madrid to know they can open up man City like a knife through butter.”