THE VITALS:

Team: Manchester City

Brand: Nike

Era: 2019-20 (Used for 2019-20 Premier League season)

Name/Number: Sterling #7

CONDITION: EXCELLENT

This shirt comes to you in nothing short of excellent condition with the applications and shirt material looking as good as new. The hem however is starting to come away in parts.

DIMENSIONS:

Size: 15-16 Yrs

Pit to Pit Measurement: 20 inches

Shirt Length: 26 inches 

Made by Puma in their ‘Dry-Cell’ range of shirts which they introduced in 2019; although this shirt is a size 15-16 years, the dimensions of this shirt suggest it will easily fit someone who usually wears a size small shirt.

DESCRIPTION:

In Puma’s debut season as Manchester City’s kit supplier; their choice of third strip was an eyebrow raiser to say the least with what can only be described as a sherbet yellow and pink ombre was chosen – echoing memories of the away strip used by Barcelona in 2012-13. The 2019-20 season would see Man City come unstuck in the Premier League as Liverpool were simply a force of nature before the Coronavirus pandemic caused the league to be postponed in March 2020. Fortunately for ‘The Cityzens’ they were able to win a third consecutive EFL Cup before then when they saw off the challenge of Aston Villa on 1^st March, and speaking of Liverpool; City were also able to defend the Community Shield when they defeated their rivals on penalties in the Wembley showcase. After ‘Project Restart’ in June 2020; City would win 8 out of their 10 remaining games to comfortably secure 2^nd place, however, they would be upset by Arsenal in the semi-final of the FA Cup and after conquering Real Madrid in the disrupted Last 16 of the 2019-20 UEFA Champions League; they would also be upset by Olympique Lyonnais in the quarter final of the adapted single leg knock-out stages. This would also be the last season for club legend – David Silva, while Nicholas Otamendi, Claudio Bravo, Leroy Sane also departed for new pastures in the summer of 2020.

THE SEASON:

The 2018-19 season continued to etch the legend of Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City as they became the first time in British football history to win all four domestic titles; with their first ever successful Premier League title defence coming after the most intense title race against Liverpool which culminated in City winning the title by one point more than Liverpool’s 97 points after a 14 match winning streak!

The 2019-20 season however, would be the first that the club would be without their talismanic captain – Vincent Kompany with the Belgian legend leaving after 11 seasons with the club. There would also be close season departures of: Fabian Delph, Douglas Luiz, Danilo and Eliaquim Mangala. The big arrivals would be that of Rodri and Joao Cancelo who came from Atletico Madrid and Juventus respectively for a combined £122 million!

The quest for Premier League title number five began on 10^th August 2019, and the City momentum showed no sign of letting up as they beat West Ham United 5-0 at the London Stadium to make it 15 wins in a row going back to February 2019. A week later in their return to the Etihad Stadium, they would see the run end against a perennial thorn – Tottenham Hotspur as a 2-2 draw played out. This would set the tone for an uncharacteristic inconsistent 2019 portion of the season with City winning no more 3 games in a row in the league before the year ended. Included along the way would be damning defeats against newly promoted Norwich City, as well as against rivals – Liverpool and Manchester United, while Wolverhampton Wanderers became the first team to do the double over Man City since Chelsea did in 2016-17.

City would go into 2020 in 3^rd place behind Leicester City by 1 point, and behind Liverpool by 17 points to all but see their title defence over at the half-way point of the season. In City’s 8 games in 2020 before the Coronavirus forced adjournment of the season; they would clock 5 wins, however, there would be further defeats to Spurs and to Man United, in what would be the first time United would do the double over City since the 2006-07 season. The defending champions would be positioned in 2^nd place when the league was halted.

Project Restart would see City have their long awaited meeting with Arsenal where they won 3-0 at home, before seeing off Burnley 5-0 just five days later. Although there would be defeats to Southampton and Chelsea either side; Man City would defeat the newly minted Premier League champions – Liverpool 4-0 on 2^nd July and would win their final 5 games of the season with an aggregate 21 goals scored and just 1 conceded to wrap up 2^nd place with 81 points won and 102 goals scored.

The domestic cup competitions were again fruitful for the Cityzens as they had 4 titles to defend beginning with the Community Shield where they saw off Liverpool on penalties in the season curtain raiser on 4^th August.

The EFL Cup yielded what was becoming a similar story – a Manchester City title win as they won the title for the third season in a row, and for the fourth time in the last five seasons! Along the way, Manchester United were vanquished in the semi-final, before Aston Villa were seen off 2-1 in final on 1^st March. The FA Cup defence however would fall at the semi-final when Arsenal stunned them 2-0 in an empty Wembley Stadium on 18^th July.

The elephant in the room also known as the UEFA Champions League was probably their greatest source of disappointment. After being drawn in Group C alongside Dinamo Zagreb, familiar foes – Shakhtar Donetsk, of whom they were meeting for a third season in a row, and competition debutants – Atalanta; City would comfortably top the group with 14 points and going unbeaten along the way.

Their reward in the Last 16 would be a meeting against Zinedine Zidane and Real Madrid in what was the first ever managerial clash between the two legendary players and managers. In an epic first leg in Madrid; Guardiola would mastermind a come from behind 2-1 over the hosts who would be without their captain Sergio Ramos in the 2^nd Leg. The 2^nd Leg however, would be up in the air as to when it would be played following the Coronavirus pandemic, however, the date was set for 7^th August. City would repeat their 2-1 triumph at home to condemn Zidane to his first ever elimination Champions League knock-out tie. After this victory over Real Madrid; City would be drawn with Lyon, who had just upset Juventus, and in what was expected to be a Manchester City victory ended with French side stunning Pep Guardiola’s side 3-1 in Lisbon on 15^th August to send City home.

The notable players that season were: 

Sergio Aguero, Gabriel Jesus, Riyad Mahrez, Raheem Sterling, Leroy Sane, David Silva, Kevin De Bruyne, Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan, Yaya Toure, Phil Foden, Rodri, Fernandinho, Joao Cancelo, Vincent Kompany, Nicolas Otamendi, Aymeric Laporte, Oleksandr Zinchenko, Eric Garcia, John Stones, Kyle Walker, Benjamin Mendy, Ederson, Claudio Bravo, Scott Carson