To seal the FA Cup final the original component of this City era popped up with two moments of typical, routine brilliance
This was perhaps the perfect way to win it, the perfect way to confirm Manchester City’s status as the defining domestic force of the age and all-round era-machine.
The words used to describe this team, the semantic field of Pep-era City, tend to be mechanical. City are a juggernaut, a steamroller, a fully operational death star. They completed the league and Cup Double here with a couple of moments of routine, mid-30s brilliance from a footballer who looks less like a visitor from the footballing future, more like a cuddly pirate.
More Stories
Beyoncé NFL half-time show review – country ho-ho-ho-down live-streamed on Netflix is playful and infectious
Australia v India: fourth men’s cricket Test, day one – live
Liverpool’s Arne Slot wary of Van Nistelrooy after duo’s Eredivisie battles