I'm quite excited about tomorrow.
As we're approaching our 9th anniversary of being Moneybags City F.C. it would be quite easy to take a quarter final for granted. However, you don't have to go back too long into City's 123 years of existence to remember the days where we wouldn't get anywhere near the last 8 of a competition.
A midweek game against West Ham in March 2006 was our first quarter final for over a decade. I can remember the excitement, but not as much as I can recall the bitter misery when the Hammers, Dean Ashton in particular, wiped the floor with us. If we had won that we probably should have got to our first final in 25 years, but we didn't, and it was West Ham who became the forgotten team in the "Gerrard Final".
The disappointment continued 12 months later. Actually, I think the word "disappointment" would be more fitting for the League Cup quarters later in 2007 vs Spurs, when they, like West Ham in 2006 controlled the game and had a striker that looked head and shoulders above the rest - this time it was Berbatov.
No, it was closer to fury than disappointment 12 months after West Ham as we travelled to Ewood Park. The scene of one of the most joyous days this side of the millennium was the scene to one of the darkest days for City. The team were crap, the fans proper turned on the players and manager. In fact, I've written about this before here -> http://liamwright1987.blogspot.co.uk/2012/12/2007-year-in-life.html and I don't want to think about it again. Well for awhile, anyway.
The next quarter was the roller coaster of Hamburg in the UEFA Cup. After being binned out of both domestic cups by Brighton and Forest, we clawed our way through 78 rounds of Thursday nights and teams with a "/" in their name. 1 up after 30 seconds by Stephen Ireland, we ended up getting hammered, luckily escaping with a 3-1 loss. Back at CoMS (as it was once known) we had a night famous for atmosphere and one of Elano's famous hours as we came back from being 1 down to 2-1 up and pressing right to the end. Wasn't to be though, but we were about to buy players like Barry, Tevez and Lescott who were going to turn us into serious contenders instead of also-rans.
I don't really remember the first quarter final I saw City win. We beat Arsenal 3-0 and I can see the goals go in but I have no real recollection of this apart from having a drink in Mary D's before the game. Maybe that's something to do with the memory loss. Through to the semi's vs United - less said about it all to be honest, apart from the home leg with Tevez calling Neville a phrase in Argentinian which translated to "sock sucker" or "boot licker".
The next year was one I do remember, although the game wasn't much to talk about. For all the money we spent and how we ruin young English players allegedly (especially Sterling, obviously) it was Micah Richards who headed the ball into the Reading net just over 6 years after a header away at Aston Villa had just started his fucking career. Sorry for swearing Garth. We knew before kick off that it was going to be United in the semi's for the second year in a row. This time the Deity of The Ivory Coast slipped the ball between Van Der Sar's legs as we Poznan'd ourselves to the final when Yaya "too lazy" Toure smashed the ball into the back of the net and City won our first trophy in 35 years. 35 years eh? The banner and many tears came down as the cup went up into the air from Tevez.
Probably the best one next as we beat Arsenal 1-0. I only watched about 20 minutes as the £10 tickets seemed to be an excuse to spend the £x I would normally spend at The Emirates on beer in the concourse. Great breakaway goal though and Aguero bagged. Think Razak played that night - remember him?! Liverpool followed the in the next round, we were really poor at home, should have won away - queues to get in a joke, but de Jong's slide tackle screamer goal was a moment.
The year after was a weird one. Mancini's time was coming to an end at City, the title was seemingly out of reach and we had an easy route to the final. Can't really remember much about the game, apart from hammering Barnsley and being on the whole rather intoxicated. Think I fell asleep in a pub that night. Semi win vs Chelsea was enjoyed, knowing we had Wigan in the final. Don't want to talk about the rest of it. You all know why.
Mancini replaced by Grandma Death himself Pellegrini. Mixed year in his first season, but two quarters to mention. Leicester away was a walk over, followed by hammering West Ham 9-0 over 2 legs. 1 down to Sunderland after about 10 minutes we then turned the game around in minutes as Yaya "get him out of our club" Toure scored the best goal Wembley has ever seen before Nasri scored an incredible volley. Navas finished off a great day winning the league cup for the first time since 1976. Also that year we rolled over for the second time in 12 months to Wigan as Uwe Rosler's men beat us the day before I flew off to Barcelona for the last 16 of the Champions League. Good old Uwe.
2014-15 was a bad year for City. Nothing to report in way of quarters.
Last season had two quarters as well. Hull at home was a walkover despite it being 1-0 for ages. The two legged affair at Everton was overall fun. The 3-1 win at home being a lot more enjoyable than the 2-1 away loss, especially when we were chasing the game and Pellers took off De Bruyne and brought on Fernando. I watched the highlights of the final last weekend. We hammered them, but somehow it all ended up going to penalties. Unlikely hero, William Cabby made a string of penalty saves before Yaya "he's finished" Toure scored the winning penalty. There's something about that chap and us winning things, isn't there? Perhaps if wasn't being asked at 33 to play 4 different positions at once by Pellegrini every week for 3 years then he wouldn't have slagged him off so much by large parts of our fanbase. Just a thought.
Then we had two memorable nights vs PSG in the Champions League. City finally stepped up to where we should have been a few years earlier considering the investment. Paris was a cracking trip, and I'm gutted we won't be able to play them again this season. Cup final apart, De Bruyne putting us 1 up away was the most our end went last season. Kevin scored against them again at the home leg ensuring our first ever semi final in the Champions League. Underwhelming might be the understatement, but I guess there's no shame in going out to the eventual winners - but to be honest we barely laid a glove on them.
Which leads us on to tomorrow against Boro, with Monaco soon to follow. Perhaps I'll have to update this in a few months with further tales of quarters, semi's and finals.
