A Pep Guardiola side is often described as the best in Champions League history. Another has the statistical distinction as the hardest to beat. For many, the 2011 Barcelona team reached a level unequalled before or since. Manchester City’s class of 2024, however, stand alone in another respect.
In going 26 European Cup or Champions League games undefeated – even with the sizeable and significant caveat they did lose a penalty shootout in that time – they accomplished something no one else ever had. In a microcosm of much in Manchester football, they stripped the record from their neighbours: Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United had set the previous best of 25.
A record-breaking night was also a routine one. City’s ability to beat the competition’s lesser lights has underpinned their run. They duly overcame Sparta Prague; a 5-0 scoreline scarcely counted as a shock. Perhaps it is damning City with faint praise to say there was a formulaic feel to it, even if their second goal certainly was not an identikit strike from the Guardiola blueprint.
But a path to victory was eased by Phil Foden’s early goal, which illustrated the prolific touch John Stones had acquired and featured Matheus Nunes’s most productive night in a City shirt. Perhaps predictably, it included a brace from Erling Haaland, whose first goal was outrageously brilliant, a flying backheeled volley from Savinho’s cross. The Norwegian had failed to convert three far more presentable chances before then but he continues to average better than a goal a game in the Champions League: that, too, is an explanation for City’s excellent record.
It is a consequence of context and structure, too. City top Uefa’s club coefficient, even though Real Madrid have won two of the last three Champions Leagues. City exited on spot kicks to Real after two draws last season. Real were the last team to beat them, too, in the 2022 semi-finals.
Since then, City have displayed a consistency; at times, though, they have benefited from favourable fixture lists. Since defeating three superpowers, in Bayern Munich, Real and Internazionale, in the final three rounds of their 2023 surge to glory, the only elite sides they have faced are Carlo Ancelotti and Simone Inzaghi’s sides.
If the accusation was that the old group stage was predictable, City could make it seem that way. Now City have to visit Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain before they even reach the knockout stage. Perhaps the new format will render such long unbeaten sequences less likely and make it harder for anyone else to take their record.
After facing Slovan Bratislava and Sparta Prague, it should get tougher this year. Sparta at least provided some resistance, a combination of profligacy and fine goalkeeping keeping the score at 1-0 for almost an hour, before a burst of three goals in 10 minutes ensured there was no shock: with City winning 23 of their last 26 home European games, there never is.
Foden got them underway with just his second goal of the season after two minutes, the local driving into the box and drilling in a shot. Shooting from progressively further out, he was twice close to doubling his tally.
Haaland, meanwhile, could have had a close-range hat-trick before he did score. Goalkeeper Peter Vindahl did wonderfully to claw away his header and to block a point-blank effort from the Norwegian while Martin Vitik made a goal-line clearance to deny the striker. But Haaland, who only had two goals in his previous six matches, then got two in 10 minutes, slotting in his second after a pass from Nunes.
It was a second assist in swift succession for the Portuguese. Deployed out of position on the left, he had stood up a cross which Stones met with a looping header. Nunes himself completed the scoring, a hat-trick of goal contributions, from the penalty spot after he was tripped. Haaland, who had been substituted a few minutes earlier, was thus denied the chance to complete a personal treble. Nico O’Reilly replaced him as, in a curiosity, Guardiola had only put five outfield players on the bench. While the teamsheet made City look short of footballers, a fit-again Nathan Ake had made a belated first start of the season and had a goal chalked off for handball.
It never threatened to cost City though Stefan Ortega tipped a shot from Veljko Birmancevic wide after a swift break. Once again, there were hints they could be susceptible to the counterattack. Sparta, however, were not the side to exploit it. Having begun their campaign with four points from their first two games, they have arguably overachieved thus far. But the gulf between them and City, financial and footballing, was too big to bridge. A 26-game unbeaten run is built on such mismatches.