THE 2024-25 season proved that surprises can still happen in football, with Manchester City, the pre-eminent force in the English game for the past decade having an average campaign by their lofty standards. Meanwhile, Celtic continued their dominance and Sporting regained their title in Portugal.
**Manchester City – Something slightly wrong in planet Guardiola?**
CITY may end the summer with the FIFA Club World Cup in their hands, but their domestic and European season was quite uncharacteristic and to a large degree, unexplainable. It was their first trophy-less year since 2017 and ended a run of four consecutive Premier League titles. City looked, at times, like a team in need of new faces and new ideas and some even questioned if Pep Guardiola’s way had become a little passé. They certainly missed Rodri, who was injured early in the season, but others, such as Kevin De Bruyne and Kyle Walker were reaching the end of their time at the Etihad. Erling Haaland was also absent through injury but still managed 22 league goals in 31 games. But City struggled to find a place for £ 100 million man Jack Grealish, who scored one goal in 20 league games. A mid-season £ 59 million signing, Omar Marmoush from Eintracht Frankfurt, proved to be a good acquisition, with the Moroccan netting seven goals in 16 Premier games. City’s form collapsed in November as they lost six of eight games in the Premier and were beaten by Sporting and Juventus in the Champions League. They recovered their poise and went 10 games unbeaten in the final run-in, but their European aspirations ended in the knockout stage play-offs against Real Madrid. City also reached the FA Cup final, but they were surprisingly beaten 1-0 by Crystal Palace at Wembley. They finished third in the Premier League, 13 points behind champions Liverpool. A period of rebuilding may be on the cards now for City and over £ 100 million had already been spent on new players before they headed off to the US for the Club World Cup.
**Celtic – Still looking for competition**
IS IT simply too easy for Celtic in Scotland? Their Scottish FA Cup final defeat at the hands of Aberdeen – albeit on penalties – might suggest that they are still vulnerable to the odd shock, but Celtic’s title win was their 13th in 14 years. They finished 17 points clear of neighbours Rangers and netted 112 goals and conceded just 26. Seven of their players scored into double figures, including the Japanese trio of Daizen Maeda (33), Kyōgo Furuhashi (12) and Reo Hatate (11). Celtic were unbeaten in the first 18 league games and lost only four times in the Premiership, including just one at home. In the new-look Champions League, Celtic were humiliated 7-1 in Dortmund, but that was one of only two defeats in the league phase. They were narrowly beaten by Bayern Munich in the knockout play-off, 3-2 on aggregate. As well as the Premiership title, Celtic also won the Scottish League Cup, beating Rangers in a penalty shoot-out. They remained one of Europe’s best supported clubs, with 58,809 attending home games at Celtic Park.
**Sporting – Character shown**
DESPITE losing their highly-rated coach, Ruben Amorim, to Manchester United in November 2024, Sporting retained the Primeira Liga title for the first time since 1954. In fact, they won the Portuguese double, beating Benfica 3-1 in the final in extra time after being a goal down. It was almost a treble as the two Lisbon clubs met in the Taça da Liga, but Benfica won the trophy on penalties. Sporting installed João Pereira as Amorim’s replacement, but he lasted just eight games after some adverse results threatened to destabilise their season. Sporting lost twice in the league in late November/early December – their only league losses – and ended the league phase of the Champions League with three defeats and a draw, but they still went through to the knockout play-offs, losing to Dortmund. Pereira’s successor was Rui Borges, the coach of Vitória, who cost the club € 4.1 million in compensation. Benfica’s form put pressure on Sporting right up to the end of the league programme but the title was clinched on the final day with just two points separating the Lisbon rivals. Sporting benefitted from the goals of Swedish striker Viktor Gyökeres, who scored 52 games in 54 goals and once more became a target for clubs across Europe. Sporting went into the summer not knowing if they could hang onto their goal machine for a third year.
Game of the People was founded in 2012 and is ranked among the 100 best football websites by various sources. The site consistently wins awards for its work, across a broad range of subjects. [View all posts by Neil Fredrik Jensen](https://gameofthepeople.com/author/georgefjord/)