City sweep aside Bayern to end Champions League relegation hopes

"If you have cheated me, goodbye". That is what Pep Guardiola said a few months ago when he was asked about a model Premier League sanction against Manchester City for financial irregularities in their accounts. Among these problems was the remuneration of coaches, Guardiola among them.

This investigation is still ongoing in England while in Italy Juventus has been penalised with 15 points for inflating the prices of its players and in Spain Barça is waiting for the courts, UEFA and LaLiga to take a decision on the "Negreira case".

And in this situation Manchester City thrashed Bayern Munich 3-0 and leaves the quarter-final tie on track for a semi-final against Chelsea or Real Madrid, a year after one of the most horrible games they remember in Manchester and that players like Rodri has not been able to see again.

City's game crowned with Haaland was perfect at times. Always deceptive because it is the same game that Guardiola's Bayern played at the Bernabeu in that tie they lost 1-0 and from which they came out on top at home with the headers of Ramos.

It was a beautiful game that looked set to overwhelm Real Madrid last season and ended in the last white miracle before the Paris final against Liverpool. 

If City advance to the semi-finals and Real Madrid do the same against Chelsea, they will play in the final of the tournament. Two matches that will bring planet football to a standstill to see if Guardiola finally passes Dr Ancelotti's test or if he continues to make merits to win a competition that is not his own and that he is not obsessed with, as he has said on many occasions.

Pep has found the ingredients to win. His extension on the pitch is Bernardo Silva, De Bruyne and Gündogan are the Kroos and Modric of City and in the defensive zone he has enough ammunition to contain or for the melee with Stones, Dias, Akanji and Ake along with the great Rodri who runs the team from midfield. There was no need to waste his talent by burying him at the back.

Between all those stars, they ate up Upamecano one April night in Manchester and sent a salute to all those who made the bed for Nagelsmann and the board who signed off on his sacking at the most important part of the season.

The Abu Dhabi money that has been watering Manchester City since 2008 wants to reap the benefits of the Champions League. For years, the Catalan board that chose for this company formed by Txiki Beguiristáin and Ferran Soriano has convinced the owners of the importance of being a stable team and weaving academies around the world, as well as winning the Premier League and being important in England. 

But now it is time to lift the big title that in recent years only Real Madrid have been able to win with a very different policy and far fewer millions of euros invested in big signings. In addition, the shadow of the sanctions is too long and a complicated summer is predicted for the European giants with transfer problems, lack of resources and sanctions.