Man City fans need to ask themselves a serious question after Champions League disaster

Why do we watch football? In the days following Manchester City's gut-wrenching exit from the Champions League, it's a question City fans have no doubt asked themselves.

Everything seemed to perfectly fall into place for City to banish the demons of last season's Champions League final defeat. Pep Guardiola's players showed a rarely seen tough side to overcome the assault of Atletico Madrid, before sticking four goals past Real Madrid in the first leg with a relentless attacking display.

While far from their best at the Bernabeu, for 89 minutes it looked like City had done enough. And then it all fell apart. A mad 80 seconds left City stunned, unable to react as Madrid went on to score a third and leave them empty-handed.

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As is to be expected, such a remarkable capitulation demanded an immediate inquest. How did it happen? Is Guardiola a failure? Why have City still not won the Champions League despite billions of pounds of investment?

Under the weight of those questions, it all seems rather pointless. If City end this season without a trophy - a real possibility if they fail to win their remaining four Premier League games - then what was the point of it all?

For some, the trauma of Wednesday may have prompted somewhat of an existential crisis; that's a good thing. It would be disingenuous to suggest that City should not be expected to win at least one trophy every season, or even that they can be excused for not winning the Champions League by now.

Since taking over the club in 2008, Sheikh Mansour, the Abu Dhabi United Group and City's myriad of sponsors and commercial partners have given the club unbelievable