TrevorSlattery

With ten men for the majority of Tuesday night, Manchester City kept pushing, kept trying to force something out of nothing. It wasn’t pretty at times, but the fight was there... and in that chaos, one player really stood out. Abdukodir Khusanov. He didn’t just cope with the situation, he embraced it. His recovery pace to chase down balls over the top, the awareness to read danger early, and that physical edge in duels. There’s always been a bit of risk to his game, that aggressive streak, but on this occasion it felt controlled, channelled in the right way. Manchester City against a side like Real Madrid, in a game like that, he looked anything but out of place. What’s been just as encouraging is how much calmer he’s becoming in possession. He’s not just clearing his lines and hoping for the best anymore. He is starting to trust himself on the ball, to step in and play. With the way the game is now, you need centre backs who can defend huge spaces, recover quickly, and still be composed enough to contribute in possession. Khusanov ticks those boxes. Put the right partner next to him, whether that’s Ruben Dias, Josko Gvardiol or Marc Guehi, and you’ve got the foundations of something solid. It’s been a rough period for Pep Guardiola and Man City lately. But if you’re looking for something to hold onto, something that actually feels like progress, it’s Abdukodir Khusanov. Over the course of just this season, he’s gone from a "promising player", to looking like a genuine cornerstone for this team. After a night like that against Madrid, it’s hard not to feel like we’ve found the future of our defence.

@premierleague @ManUtd There I fixed it for ya, you're welcome.

They zoomed in on this, and the more you look at it, the more you appreciate FC Barcelona. Honestly, I don't know how they manage to compete with this and still beat these guys to trophies.

Jerome Brisard has been the VAR in up to 14 matches involving Madrid. Among them: the day of Valverde’s strike against Benfica, the day of Brahim’s goal with Viní in positional offside in last year’s derby, Liverpool’s final in 2022, and yesterday against City. UEFA 💰💰💵

Yeah but has he ever scored against Everton with nobody in goal?

This exchange just happened in Congress. Senator Cohen to FBI Director Kash Patel: “The people you fired were experts on Iran, were they not?” Patel: “I don’t believe so.” Cohen: “They worked in counterintelligence, did they not?” Patel: “I’m taking you at your word.” Cohen: “You’re the director. I’m not. You should know the answer.” The Director of the Federal Bureau of Investigation does not know who he fired. Does not know if they were Iran experts. Does not know if they worked in counterintelligence. Is taking a senator’s word for it. This is the man running America’s domestic intelligence agency during the most severe national security crisis since 9/11. Iran has activated sleeper cells. Encrypted communications intercepted as operational triggers. A war with no exit strategy. Joe Kent resigned because the investigation was stopped. Charlie Kirk’s last words to Kent: stop us from getting into a war with Iran. And the FBI Director doesn’t know who he fired. Or what they knew. Or what America lost when they left. Never stop connecting the dots.

A really honest and vulnerable moment from the #UCLToday crew to open today's show 🥹❤️

A red card for Bernardo Silva yesterday but a now they’ve given a yellow card to Kieran Trippier? This is, once again, ridiculous from the officials.

@livescore Bacon chops won 2 in 26 years 🤷🏼‍♂️. Don’t see this narrative about him

This fucking Wurzel @lawrence_bury had no history of being a City fan until the production company he and Rory Jennings worked for needed one for the others to take the piss out of. Fake as fuck, grifting a living by being a parasite on our club. Do one.

I do wish some of the @ManCity @ManCityHelp leadership team would come to the coal face and see just how bad the stewarding is inside & outside our stadium, it’s gone so far backwards it’s untrue, not sure what has happened but it’s on the verge of ‘renta-thug’ at the moment.

Another champions league night with opposition fans in the home end, had an altercation with one as he stood up celebrating when Madrid scored the penalty, he then tried to get the stewards to kick me out but where I sit there’s lots of regulars who spoke to the stewards and they saw sense and kicked out the two Real Madrid fans. We shouldn’t have to put up with this happening and it’s getting worse.

Another night of opposition fans in the wrong end, stewards failing to deal with it, and chaos getting in. Think I'll give it a miss next year

@clpblue1 @prestigecar_rep We witnessed Stewards fighting amongst themselves just before the final whistle in East Stand 0 Level concourse outside 002-004 @ManCity @ManCityHelp email in the morning with a video attached. They couldn’t handle RM fans so they decided to turn on city fans and each other

Michael Salisbury gifting Arsenal 4pts this season via Var...

Real Madrids MOTM Clement Turpin 👏

Vini Jr, you'll never recover from this. Troll all you want, but this is a dagger that will haunt you for life.

@ManCity your ticketing policy is fucked. Madrid fans everywhere in 316/315

@9320pod Not tonight Ahsan. That's pretty pathetic stuff to be dealing. Didn't have clicks and likes down as your bag tbf.

I don't know how Manchester City fans are believing to progress to the Quarter final by winning today by 4-0 with Clement Trupin as ref. Trupin has 90 mins to award a single penalty to Real Madrid and ruin everything.