Manchester City were absolutely dire in Madrid last night.
They have been for a while.
The whole team went flat when they knew Pellegrini was leaving.
It was a very scrappy second leg in which Cristiano Goalmachine was far from his best.
But Real Madrid were very aggressive and managed to scramble through with a deflected shot by Gareth Bale.
They started with Yaya Toure, who is a spent force at CL semi-final level.
And they lost Vincent Kompany after 18 minutes, so it was never gonna be their night.
City never looked like scoring, apart from one shot by Fernandinho that clipped the outside of the post.
Roberto Mancini, a diva, was followed by Manuel Pellegrini, a gentleman tactician.
Man City now need a demanding coach who will change their training and make them compete for places in his starting line-up.
The Germans will say, of course, that Pep Guardiola failed by losing three CL semis in 3 years .
But he is just what City need: a demanding coach who will be pro-active in his selections, and bold in his switches during games.
If anybody can keep £200,000 a week under-achievers on their toes, it’s Pep.
But his long-awaited first season in England will not be easy.
Jurgen Klopp has hit the ground running and improved Liverpool hugely in a short time.
Klopp will sign a couple of very good players from the Bundesliga.
Pochettino, who may yet finish second, will strengthen.
New Chelsea coach Antonio Conte is a fiery character, perhaps an Italian Jose Mourinho, so he will rattle a few cages, do it his way, and give the Blues a creative shake-up.
Leicester, the other blues, gave us an inspiring and popular fairytale this season and Vardy, Kante, Mahrez and Morgan have become legends.
But next season will be a whole new story.