Time for the real City to stand up and be counted
IN his final season at Bayern Munich, Pep Guardiola’s team won their Champions League semi-final second leg at home to Atletico Madrid but went out on away goals, having passed up the major opportunities over the tie to make their dominance count.
They had enjoyed 73.8 per cent of the possession over the course of a first leg they lost through an early Saul Niguez goal, which gave their famous manager food for thought. In his second book about the Munich years, Pep Guardiola: The Evolution, the Spanish journalist Marti Perarnau, the Catalan coach’s very own Dr Boswell, recalls a conversation in the aftermath of the first leg defeat in Madrid.
Guardiola conducted a forensic examination of the game into the small hours along with his brother Pere, and various other confidantes in which different tactical approaches were analysed for their suitability in the second leg in Munich. As ever, Guardiola declared it his intention to come up with a plan to win the second leg but he also considered another element at play amongst his squad.
“It doesn’t matter how much analysis you do and how much information you give the players,” Perarnau quotes Guardiola as saying, “there’s nothing like playing an opponent to teach you exactly how they play. We’ve done that now and my men know exactly what kind of team Atletico are.”
In the second leg Bayern had 72.7 per cent of the possession, and won the game 2-1 but Antoine Griezmann’s away goal was the difference. There was a missed penalty from Thomas Muller, and a lot more chances that passed Bayern by.
At the end, Perarnau recounts how Guardiola’s white shirt, hidden by his grey jumper, had been torn in frustration “like a giant hand had ripped it up”. His wife Cristina remarked: “Just as well you wore a sweater.”
ACQUAINTED
His team knew what they needed to do but they had not been able to see it over the line. Guardiola’s City team have faced Jurgen Klopp’s Liverpool five times over the Catalan’s period in charge: winning one, drawing one and losing three. Guardiola’s players have had more than enough chances to become acquainted with the opposition they face.
The scale of the task may be even greater than it was for his Bayern team two years ago, but City cannot say that they do not know the weaknesses and strengths of Klopp’s team.
City’s 5-0 league victory over Liverpool in September was one of 13 that they have achieved this season in all competitions by a margin that would be enough for them to reach the semi-finals tonight. Among those 13 wins, they have scored five on three occasions, put six past Watford and seven past Stoke City. If there is one side that could score four goals against Liverpool, this is it.
Guardiola will no doubt have a plan honed for the occasion, and he prides himself on spotting the glitches in the opposition that he thinks his team can exploit. He will then rely on his players to execute that plan, although of course it is never quite as simple as that.
Against Atletico two years ago, there was that Muller penalty. When Guardiola’s Barcelona drew the second leg of the 2012 Champions League semi-final with Chelsea 2-2, losing 3-2 on aggregate, they did so despite having 72 per cent of the possession and 22 attempts on goal.
Needing a minimum of three goals to keep the tie alive, Guardiola’s approach tonight will be about releasing the attacking qualities of his team. It places more responsibility on the players’ skill and judgment, on the split-second decisions, on what they have learned about their opponent so far, than a conservative coach would ever grant his team.
On Saturday when asked about his defence’s vulnerabilities, he flipped the
question and said that his City side were “a team to create and not to defend”. When he reflected on the time his Bayern team conceded three goals in the last 10 minutes of their 2015 Champions League semi-final first leg against Barcelona, his conclusion was not that defending was the key, but the failure to have taken earlier chances to win.
After elimination to Atletico, he told Perarnau that “at the very least I’m determined to choose how I lose”. “There are a lot of coaches around today who play a very reactive game - I mean them no disrespect but we’re different.” He accepts that - occasionally - penalties will be missed, and mistakes will be made and that life goes on. He has built a team capable of winning games by margins of four and five, even against Liverpool themselves. The question is now whether City’s players have learned from their defeat and whether they can deliver their manager’s vision on a night like none other so far. (© Daily Telegraph, London) Manchester City v Liverpool, live, TV3, 7.45