No continent for old men: City fall down in Europe

They were the last of them on the pitch, the last men standing. Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan, two-thirds of a Champions League-winning midfield two years ago, were saluting the Manchester City fans up among the gods at the top of the Bernabeu Stadium. Waving goodbye, perhaps.

- RICHARD JOLLY

To the Champions League? It felt that way, though De Bruyne might like another contract and Gundogan has played so much he is close to triggering a one-year extension to his deal. The German is arguably City’s most successful ever captain, the lone one to lift this trophy, the Belgian probably their greatest ever player, at least until Erling Haaland takes that mantle under the weight of goals he produces.

Now they are in their mid-thirties. Gundogan looked his age as Rodrygo gave him the runaround on Wednesday. Pep Guardiola showed a lack of sentimentality by not bringing on De Bruyne for the final few minutes, with the game gone. He showed a different kind of cruelty by making Gundogan play 76 minutes. Real Madrid won 3-1. It could have been 6-1.

Afterwards, Guardiola’s choice of tense was instructive. “We have been a great team,” he said, couching his comments in the past. That team won a treble but not a second Champions League; no English side, not with the same core has won two since Liverpool in the 1980s.

Whether or not City come again – and it is a sign of how their fortunes have plummeted that Guardiola’s new target is simply qualifying for next season’s Champions League – their modernday legends have been beset by age. Only one letter separates gold from old. “If you’re not good enough in the moment football takes over and it is what it is,” said Ruben Dias. The game can be no respecter of reputation.