In addition to serving as a source of income, the fans who filled stadiums before the pandemic forced their players with the ancestral haste of mass threats.
Threat of contempt, of boo, of sentimental reckoning, if not physical, emotional pressure also guaranteed tense matches.
Without people in the stands rarefied spectacles emerged.
Heartless like this meeting that UEFA organized in Budapest and to which the Borussia Mönchengladbach footballers were forced to exhibit what seemed like a more or less undisguised indifference so that their Manchester City colleagues painted their faces with little resistance.
The match — resolved without a single card, with two crossed legs from Cancelo and as many interventions by Bernardo Silva at the far post — was unidirectional.
It does not seem that this crossing reserves any emotion.
It had been more than 40 years since Mönchengladbach had played a European Cup qualifier.
He had never crossed paths with City.
UEFA announced a historic event.
But the game will not be remembered for anything other than the uncontested superiority of the English team, owner of the ball for more than 60% of the time and invariable occupant of the rival field.
A training match between City and City B would have been more exciting.
You only had to see the visiting bench to verify it: De Bruyne, Agüero, Stones, Zinchenko, Fernandinho,? Ferran Torres, Mendy,? Mahrez ... If Mönchengladbach had any chance of facing his opponent, it was based on energy, enthusiasm, physical power and discipline.
Everything that discouraged teams bypass.
The
Gladbach was
coming off a cloudy week.
BMO
0
-
two
MNC
B. MGladbach Sommer, Ginter, Stefan Lainer (Lazaro, min. 62), Elvedi, Rami Bensebaini, Christoph Kramer, Denis Zakaria, Florian Neuhaus, Stindl (Embolo, min. 73), Alassane Plea (Marcus Thuram, min. 62) and Jonas Hofmann (Hannes Wolf, min. 86) M.
CityEderson Moraes, Walker, Cancelo, Laporte, Rúben Dias, Gündogan, Sterling (Mahrez, min. 68), Bernardo Silva, Foden (Ferrán Torres, min. 79), Rodrigo and Gabriel Jesus (Aguero, min. 79)
Goals0-1 min.
28: Bernardo Silva.
0-2 min.
64: Gabriel Jesus.
Referee Artur Manuel Soares Dias
The announcement that Marco Rose, the coach, had signed for Dortmund, his direct rival in the fight for Champions League places in the Bundesliga, sparked the kind of mild controversy that the football industry digests quickly but is elsewhere. condemned for being conflicts of interest.
The news that their leader was leaving with the enemy should not have stimulated the
Gladbach
squad
.
Demonstrations by fans calling for Rose's dismissal spread.
Defeated on Saturday (1-2) by the penultimate classified Mainz, the team showed a moral collapse on the eve of hosting City.
The 0-1 was proof of this.
In the 29th minute Kramer, the midfielder, gave the ball to Cancelo.
The full-back set up his right hand without anyone bothering him much and his center to the left of goalkeeper Sommer was exploited by Bernardo Silva.
The little
ten
headed for goal without the burly Elvedi seeing him coming.
The 0-1 was amazing.
The 0-2 was identical, only that Silva assisted with his head and Gabriel Jesus finished off.