at the Etihad Stadium, Manuel Pellegrinis men relinquished their hopes of a maiden European Cup final appearance as Fernandos own-goal saw Real pr

Paul Merson has described Manchester Citys Champions League semi-final defeat at Real Madrid as the worst performance hes ever seen in football. Having earned a creditable goalless draw with the 10-time champions in the first leg at the Etihad Stadium, Manuel Pellegrinis men relinquished their hopes of a maiden European Cup final appearance as Fernandos own-goal saw Real progress.In what was a performance bereft of intensity and creativity, Citys star-studded line-up managed just one shot on target at the Bernabeu and failed to create a single clear-cut chance as they were dumped out of the competition with a whimper. I would say thats the worst Ive ever seen in football, Merson told Sky Sports Facebook page.It was the Champions League semi-final and City had 15 minutes to score one goal that would have seen them through to the final. They should have thrown everyone forward - the centre-halves, everybody!Champions League semi-finals come around once in a lifetime so to go out in the manner they did was poor. With £250,000 up for grabs in this seasons Soccer Saturday Super 6, Paul Merson gives you his thoughts on this weeks games There will be a lot of players who came home on that plane the other day thinking: I wont be here next season.Citys reluctance to throw everything at Real Madrid for a place in European footballs biggest game irritated Merson. Pick your team Aguero? Ozil? De Bruyne? Pick your Fantasy Six-a-Side team for the chance to win ￡10,000 Real, who were missing Karim Benzema and nursing Cristiano Ronaldo back to full fitness, were rarely tested and the Sky Sports pundit claimed the players would ultimately regret their poor showing. Champions League semi-finals come around once in a lifetime so to go out in the manner they did was poor. Paul Merson on Manchester Citys exit I saw Cardiff lose 3-0 at Sheffield Wednesday last week in a game they needed to win, he added.They were 1-0 down, they chased the game and lost 3-0. You can hold your hands up when that happens, at least they had a go.City simply didnt have a go. I couldnt believe them on Wednesday, Ive never seen anything like it. Will City ever have a better opportunity to reach the Champions League final again? Merson runs through his Sky Sports Fantasy Six-a-side team as he takes on Phil Thompson this weekend The last time I saw something similar was when Newcastle got relegated at Aston Villa in 2009. I watched that game expecting Newcastle to have a go but, like City, they didnt.Do you agree with Merse? Let us know using the message boards or by tweeting @SkyFootball. Get a Sky Sports Day Pass Dont miss Man City v Arsenal. Watch live on NOW TV for ￡6.99. 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Thousands of fans at Mosaic Stadium will be cozying up to each other in an effort to stay warm in chilly temperatures and block the Prairie wind that locals say can knock your socks off. ?Sport Englands strategy for getting the country more active is taking shape after it announced ￡90million in grass-roots funding for 26 national governing bodies to spend on coaching, competitions and facilities.The government agency has ￡1billion to invest over the next four years, similar to the sum it had for 2013-17, with about three-quarters of this sum coming from the National Lottery and the rest from the public purse.The investments announced on Friday are targeted at sports core market -- the 14.9million adults in England who play regular sport -- and include ￡17.3million for British Cycling, ￡9million for England Hockey, ￡8.3million for British Gymnastics and ￡7.6million for the England and Wales Cricket Board (ECB).British Cycling wants to invest more in traffic-free festivals and a campaign to encourage families to ride together; England Hockey is interested in quicker, small-sided versions of the game; British Gymnastics will invest in the surge in demand for high-quality coaching; and the ECB will focus on 20-over formats, the womens game and getting more south Asians into club cricket.But these Sport England decisions actually represent a significant decrease -- ￡13million -- in the sum allocated to British Cycling, and small decreases for the others, but Sport Englands director of sport Phil Smith believes this is a reflection of the agencys new focus on the unsporty, as well as national governing bodies maturity. Smith told Press Association Sport: Take cricket, for example -- it made a compelling case for funding its core market and supporting talent.But it knows it is unlikely to be the answer for the mass market or inactive sectors -- it would be tough to get people doing nothing into cricket clubs in one leap -- so the ECB focused on the customers it knows best.British Cycling is another example of a governing body that is trying to become less dependent on public funding, which is what we want to encourage, and I think the application it made to us was a sign of a maturee and well-run organisation.ddddddddddddSmith explained that British Cyclings recent sponsorship deal with HSBC now made it more like football, rugby union and tennis in terms of its ability to fund its own initiatives but added that the Manchester-based organisation has not yet applied for Sport England money targeted at the inactive and may do so next year.In a British Cycling statement, the governing bodys president Bob Howden welcomed the fantastic news and thanked Sport England and the National Lottery for their continued backing.The sustainability of our work at the grass-roots has long been a key priority for us and we are becoming less reliant on public money thanks to the support of our commercial partners, said Howden.Missing from Fridays tranche of funding are the Amateur Swimming Association, the Football Association, the Lawn Tennis Association, the Rugby Football Union and several other large governing bodies. Their allocations will be announced in February.But with the government now determined to shift Sport Englands funding away from those already playing sport to those who do no exercise at all, 2017 will see large sums of money allocated to charities, county sports partnerships, local authorities and even commercial organisations that are better suited to reaching those people than traditional sports organisations.We have said loud and clear that we are trying to reduce the subsidy for the core market, said Smith.That does not mean we are taking those people for granted or we are ignoring sports that do not have the numbers or commercial offer that the big sports have. But we probably have over-emphasised sport for the sporty in recent years.And this means a more audience-led, customer-first approach - good governing bodies know their customers really well but they dont know people who dont play sport. That is where other organisations can help. 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