The Sevillian illusions crashed on the crossbar, the one that repelled Nemanja Gudelj’s strike, offering Manchester City, Wednesday August 16 in Athens, one of the rare trophies that the English club lacked: the European Supercup.
The failure of the Sevillian defender in the fateful penalty shootout allowed the winners of the Champions League to win against the winner of the Europa League, after being led to the score during the meeting.
The partners of Kyle Walker, captain in the absence of Kevin De Bruyne (knee), suffered in the face of the offensive spikes of the Spanish club, the Europa League expert – seven coronations since 2006 – who loves to defy predictions.
But the English international Espoir Cole Palmer, at the height of his 21 years, pulled out all the stops to put his team back in the game, on the hour mark (63rd), thus responding to Youssef En-Nesyri (25th), scorer of the first goal of the game for Sevilla.
A 36th trophy for Guardiola
Manchester-born southpaw Palmer’s performance will bring a smile to his manager, Pep Guardiola, who, with Riyad Mahrez’s departure to Saudi Arabia, has found a sizeable understudy on the right wing for the ailing and absent Bernardo Silva Wednesday. Already a scorer in early August during the Community Shield lost to Arsenal, Palmer shook his vis-à-vis with dribbles, strikes and crosses, and he completed his score by scoring with a header, straightening a cross from Rodri at the far post , the hero of the Istanbul final two months earlier.
“This guy is amazing, he has great teammates to learn from and he has the best coach in the world. He must continue like this, keep his feet on the ground as he does and continue to score goals ”, greeted Kyle Walker, at the broadcaster TNT Sports.
At the end of the 90 minutes of regulation play, the fate of the match was decided directly with the penalty shoot-out, without going through extra time. All five Manchester City players converted their shot on goal as Nemanja Gudelj, the last taker, was the only one to miss.
“Over the last ten or fifteen years this club has been so successful, they have won so many Premier Leagues, FA Cups and Leagues. We were waiting for this one, “commented on TNT Sports the English winger of Manchester City, Jack Grealish, who arrived in 2021.
The Citizens therefore amass a new cup in the extension of the hat-trick at the end of last season (Championship, FA Cup and Champions League). It is the 36th trophy for Spanish Man City manager Pep Guardiola – the fifteenth in seven seasons in England. And this is his fourth European Super Cup, after the 2009, 2011 (with FC Barcelona) and 2013 (with Bayern Munich) editions. Only the Italian Carlo Ancelotti, with two different clubs, has done the same.
