Little chance there is! What factors could thwart the Citizens in the Champions League final

According to football experts and bookmakers’ odds, it seems to be decided – Manchester City will win the Champions League. The Blues are within reach of a third trophy after the Premier League and the FA Cup, but what could derail their dream treble?

For the first half of the season, the Citizens did not look like a prime candidate to triumph in the Champions League. However, Jack Grealish and Kevin de Bruyne have gradually come into excellent form, while John Stones has proved his worth on the right side of defence.

Ederson is not at his best

The Citizens defence in general has taken a big step forward. If anyone stood out from it in a negative sense, it was goalkeeper Ederson. By his standards, he has been rather spoiling in his passing all season, often combining unnecessarily near his own goal.

In the media, it resonated that he was very upset by his role as a number two for the Brazilian national team at the World Cup in Qatar. Whether it is true or not, he is not even 100% in his saves this year. Back in the winter, he had the worst success rate of the league’s number ones.

Guardiola’s overactive imagination

Pep Guardiola is, according to many, the best coach of the last decade. If he wins the treble, he will essentially crown himself, although the fact that he has already buried the Champions League season several times deprives him of the right to crown himself king.

Manchester have been favourites to win the whole thing at least twice under his stewardship, but on both occasions Guardiola came up with surprising tactics that didn’t work. This time he is in a position where he is setting the terms. If he backs down, experiments and it doesn’t work out, it’s almost a sacking.

Standards and Džeko

Unexpected triumphs by clear outsiders usually result through successful standard situations. Inter can rely on those, all the more so because they play three central defenders and have habos like Edin Džeko and Romelu Lukaku running around in attack.

Džeko, who at 37 is having perhaps the best season of his career, is likely to be in the starting lineup. Not the most productive, but he can be in the right place at the right time. Will he be this time?

Source: Premier League