As all 20 Premier League sides headed for their half-time team talks up and down the land, the state of play for Brentford was clear.
To qualify for European football for the first time in their modest history, they needed three goals. One for themselves without a Manchester City reply, one for Leeds without a Tottenham reply, and one for Brighton without an Aston Villa reply.
Spectacular events do happen in football, but the powers that be had already spent their tokens yesterday — sending Luton to the Premier League nine years after they were a non-league side, and giving the Bundesliga perhaps the most dramatic final day in its history. Brentford were asking for a sequence of events just a jot too intricate.
Alas, they missed out on Europe to Villa. But what more could they have done against Manchester City? Ethan Pinnock’s late goal ensured the Bees became the only team to do the double over Pep Guardiola’s treble-chasing side this season. Not Arsenal, not Bayern Munich, not Real Madrid. Only plucky Brentford know the feeling.
City made eight changes, fielding the likes of Cole Palmer, Sergio Gomez and Rico Lewis with their priority firmly set on next weekend’s FA Cup final. In turn, they delivered a lacklustre performance — sorely lacking the creativity of Kevin De Bruyne and Ilkay Gundogan and the mere presence of Erling Haaland.
Yoane Wissa struck the post on ten minutes, though he was later flagged for making his run just a little too early. The 1,600 travelling City fans had their fun soon after, chanting “Ivan Toney, he should have cashed out” in response to the betting ban handed to Toney which sees him unavailable for Brentford until January 2024.
But that was to be as much fun in the beating afternoon sun as the away end had, with Brentford that much faster, slicker and better than the makeshift side of their illustrious visitors.
When Julian Alvarez ducked in from the left and struck from distance, it whistled past David Raya’s post. Phil Foden turned to Alvarez and barked at the Argentine, as if to remind him that this is Manchester City — and Manchester City pass it in, they don’t shoot from range.
But this was not the real Manchester City because their hosts did not allow them to be. And Brentford got their just deserts. Substitute Kevin Schade cruised past Gomez, crossed for the ever-dependable Bryan Mbeumo, who knocked down for centre-back Pinnock to celebrate his contract extension by pummelling in the game’s only goal.
Okay, Villa did what they needed to do, killing the Bees’ distant Europa Conference League dream. But as their faithful fans reminded them, they are “just a bus stop in Hounslow”. There may be plenty of time for an even stronger European push next year but what they have achieved this season is nothing short of astounding.
