Pep Guardiola has admitted to making some tactical changes ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid but insists he’s not ‘overthinking it’.
City will host Real Madrid at the Etihad on Wednesday evening for the second leg of their Champions League semi-final, having drew the first leg in Spain 1-1.
Real ended City’s dreams of winning a first Champions League title in dramatic fashion at this same stage 12 months ago and hope to do it all over again this year.
However, Guardiola and his team are desperate to beat the LaLiga giants and continue their pursuit of a historic treble.
In order to do so, Guardiola has decided to change his tactics but insists it’s ‘nothing special’ and that it’s ‘nothing different to what they’ve done in the past’.
Pep Guardiola admitted to making some tactical changes ahead of Manchester City’s Champions League clash with Real Madrid on Wednesday evening
Speaking at City’s press conference on Tuesday, Guardiola said: ‘I have an idea to do something differently, just to be more fluid in attack.’
He went on to reassure City fans: ‘It’s nothing special eh. I’m not overthinking tomorrow, don’t worry guys. Nothing different to what we have done in the past.’
When asked what he was looking to change, Guardiola said: ‘Hopefully you can see tomorrow. I cannot tell you, otherwise Carlo [Ancelotti] will hear…’
Guardiola has been criticsed before for overthinking it tactics when it comes to the Champions League.
During Guardiola’s first season as City boss, the Premier League giants went gung-ho against Monaco in the last-16 and secured a 5-3 first leg lead.
However, they squandered their advantage and ended up losing the tie because of defensive deficiencies.
The following year, the City boss decided to play Aymeric Laporte in an unfamiliar position on the left-side of the defence against Liverpool at Anfield.
The Champions League has so far eluded Guardiola at Manchester City but this could yet be their year
Unsurprisingly, Laporte was completely out of his depth and Mohamed Salah, the dangerman he was supposed to be man-marking, scored after just 12 minutes.
As a result, Liverpool went on to win the game 3-0 and progress through to the next stage of the competition 5-1 on aggregate.
Guardiola was looking to turn things around in 2019 and keep their Quadruple hopes alive when they played Spurs in the quarter-finals. However, it wasn’t meant to be.
Guardiola decided to deploy Fabian Delph against the blistering speed of Heung-min Son and dropped Kevin De Bruyne in the first leg.
They looked a shadow of their usual fluent selves and lost 1-0, eventually departing the competition on away goals after a madcap seven-goal thriller at the Etihad.
The misery didn’t stop there. City crashed out of the tournament in 2020 after facing Lyon in the quarter-finals.
It looked like an easy task for Guardiola, but he was guilty of overthinking his tactics heading into the game.
The Spaniard ditched his familiar 4-3-3 for a three-man defence and left several Manchester City stars on the bench.
During Guardiola’s first season as City boss, the Premier League giants secured a 5-3 first leg lead. However, they squandered their advantage and ended up losing the tie
City’s dejected players walk past the trophy having suffered defeat by Chelsea in the 2021 final
City made the 2021 final and faced Chelsea but Guardiola left Rodri and Fernandinho – who’d featured in 60 of City’s 61 games that season – on the bench and ended up losing 1-0
Guardiola waited until the 56th minute to bring on Riyaz Mahrez and the Premier League giants ended up losing the game 3-1.
City made the 2021 final and faced Chelsea but Guardiola left Rodri and Fernandinho – who’d featured in 60 of City’s 61 games that season – on the bench.
Guardiola went all-out in attack with De Bruyne, Raheem Sterling, Mahrez, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva all starting but confused as to their roles.
Chelsea won 1-0 and City’s best chance of claiming that elusive first Champions League crown went begging.
More to follow…
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