Grealish aims to repay Pep on the pitch

JACK Grealish welled up the night before City's game with Crystal Palace.

- SIMON BAJKOWSKI

Watching the footage of the Champions League win in Istanbul and what it meant to everyone involved made the £100m star emotional because it reminded him not just of how incredibly happy it had made him, but of the struggle he had endured this year trying to hit another high.

Last year Grealish achieved not just his pinnacle but the highest point any footballer can hit in the club game and the crash back down has been bumpy.

A stop-start campaign hasn't helped. He hasn't had any major injuries but a series of problems starting in August with the worst dead leg the City medical team had ever seen and continuing in 2024 with sickness followed by two groin injuries have hampered his rhythm.

Pep Guardiola has not held back criticism in public when he has been fit, suggesting at various points that Grealish lacked the level in training he showed last season when he was so integral to City's success.

The City manager has also questioned his fitness and was seen after the Arsenal game last week giving the 28-year-old one of his postmatch rants on the pitch.

That was interpreted by many as a sign that Guardiola was seriously unhappy with Grealish - and some even suggested the player's future at the club was in doubt. That all looks a bit silly a week on and when Grealish stopped to speak to reporters - a rare treat after his starring role in the 4-2 win over Crystal Palace he spoke of not only his appreciation for the tough love but also how much Guardiola has helped him away from the cameras during a time when he feels has been judged by the wrong statistics.

"Playing for this manager the only ever person who has been able to go and do what they want in a Pep team is [Lionel] Messi, which is fair enough," said Grealish.

"You can't knock what the manager has done, he's an incredible manager, a great guy with a really good heart as well.