Guardiola’s City Season Leaves Champions League Disappointments Man City as Only Major Miss

Manchester City’s champions league disappointments man city were the only major miss in a season that still ended with two trophies and a push that took Arsenal to the final week of the Premier League season. Pep Guardiola’s side found enough consistency to stay in the title race, but the Champions League stood apart from the rest of the campaign.

Guardiola’s best XI

Guardiola made few changes in the final two months of the campaign as City chased silverware. He had largely settled on a best XI, and only Bernardo Silva is set to leave that group when the new manager arrives.

That limited rotation shaped more than the results. It also narrowed the minutes available to players outside the core group, with some first-team options left waiting for a run that never came.

Savinho and Doku

Savinho had the clearest frustration. He failed to make Brazil’s 55-man longlist for the World Cup squad, and Tottenham are interested in him for a second consecutive summer. City did not immediately turn Tottenham away, which leaves his situation open as the window approaches.

Jeremy Doku went the other way. He had his best season, while Marc Guehi and Antoine Semenyo settled instantly into their starting lineups after January moves elsewhere. The contrast shows how hard it was for some City players to force their way into Guardiola’s preferred setup once he settled on it.

Trafford and Nico Gonzalez

James Trafford was replaced as No.1 after three league games, then went on to win two trophies at Wembley in his role as cup keeper. He also earned a World Cup place with England as third-choice goalkeeper.

Nico Gonzalez tells the sharpest version of City’s squad squeeze. Signed for £49m eighteen months ago, he made 15 consecutive starts in the first part of the campaign before falling away completely by the end of it. He was left out of matchday squads entirely and missed the FA Cup final, even after scoring the winner in the semi-final.

Those minutes tell the story of City’s season as much as the trophies do. The club came away with silverware, but the Champions League remained the one failure, and the reduced rotation under Guardiola left several players with difficult decisions heading into the summer.