‘Quirky’ plan against Real?
City trembles at Guardiola’s destructive genius
4/25/2022, 7:56 p.m
Manchester City are favorites against Real Madrid in the semi-finals of the Champions League – or is Josep Guardiola coaching again? The eternal accusation of “overthinking” pops up again. And the Catalan counters that with an enigmatic idea.
Josep Guardiola just can’t hear it anymore. The Manchester City team manager only meets the eternal accusation that he regularly coaches the big games with sarcasm. “I always think too much in the Champions League,” he said recently, smiling mockingly, “I love inventing stupid tactics.” Of course, that wasn’t meant seriously – and yet the Catalan can’t get rid of the stigma of “overthinking”. Will he also do so in the semi-final first leg against record winners Real Madrid with top striker Karim Benzema on Tuesday (9 p.m. on Amazon Prime and in the live ticker on ntv.de) exaggerate? In Manchester there is a fear that Guardiola will unnecessarily jeopardize the possible dream final against Liverpool.
The Catalan, wrote the “Evening News”, is working on a “quirky” idea: Attacker Gabriel Jesus, who scored just four times against Watford FC and was compared by Guardiola to the nine-player legend Christo Stojtschkow, could face the personnel problems on the defensive help out “If Gabriel has to play right-back, he’ll play right-back, no problem,” said Guardiola, shrugging.
Damn often gambled away
The fact that the 51-year-old likes to take chances tactically has long been and sufficiently proven. In the 2021 Champions League final, he did without a real six and regular left-back Joao Cancelo. His representative Oleksandr Zinchenko let Chelsea’s Kai Havertz escape from the winning goal. The previous season, the Catalan was shipwrecked in the quarter-finals against Lyon with a back three. In 2019 he sacrificed his best man Kevin De Bruyne in the same round against Tottenham – and failed. 2018 was also the final stop in the round of eight – also because Guardiola surprisingly let İlkay Gündoğan play on the left against Liverpool and thus undermined the static of the city game.
Guardiola has won the championship three times with City since taking office in 2016, but it has been a long time since he last triumphed in the Champions League. He did that in 2009 and 2011 with FC Barcelona. The now 51-year-old then failed at FC Bayern, just as he did with the English. Real already have “a few trophies in the cupboard,” said Guardiola about Real’s 13 trophies only in the premier class. This should also be an attempt to push the role of favorites to coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team. But the balance of power has long since changed.
“The important thing is that City are now on par with a team like Real Madrid,” said Carlos Tevez in an interview on the Manchester club’s website. The ex-pro sees it as a big step forward and can’t see any reason why the English should be afraid of Madrid. City has invested a lot of money in recent years to finally make it to the top in Europe.
“This is a brutal squad”
Does it work this time? Well, Guardiola is apparently already planning big things. “It would be boring if I always played the same,” Guardiola countered the critics at the beginning of April, after all he had to adapt to the opponent. After all: In the round of 16 in 2020, Guardiola eliminated the royals (2: 1 / 2: 1). This time, too, he is hoping for “a special night” and demanded: “We should enjoy it and give everything that is in our souls.” But on the other side are the big Real and Benzema. “Damn hell,” said City pro Rodri, “this guy is crazy in every game. We have to be careful!”
While Manchester is only in the semi-finals for the third time, Madrid is in the top four for the 30th time. Along the way, the team around ex-national player Toni Kroos eliminated top teams like Paris St. Germain and Guardiola’s bogeyman, Chelsea. In addition to Casemiro in the six, defense chief David Alaba is also injured, but Gündoğan warns against carelessness: “These are a brutal squad.”
And at least a little the Royal underpinned that in their dress rehearsal, which succeeded with a 3-1 win over Osasuna, but superstar Benzema missed two penalties. The Frenchman had scored the decisive goal in the second leg of the quarter-finals and thus ensured that defending champions Chelsea were eliminated. In the 3-1 win in the first leg, the attacker even scored three times himself in London.