Pep on a European mission
‘NEARLY MAN’: SEEKING ELUSIVE CHAMPIONS LEAGUE TROPHY WITH CITY
After a series of painful Champions League failures, Pep Guardiola is on a mission to seal his Manchester City legacy by finally getting his hands on the trophy again.
City start their latest bid to win the club’s first European Cup with a trip to Shakhtar Donetsk in the Group C opener today.
The long flight to the Ukraine will give Guardiola plenty of time to ponder his curious streak of Champions League flops in recent years.
He has conquered English football spectacularly after winning the last two Premier League titles, the first in record-breaking fashion and the second as part of an unprecedented domestic treble last season. Yet the Champions League has proved impossible for Guardiola to master since he arrived at the Etihad Stadium.
In fact, Europe’s elite club competition has been a cruel mistress for most of the last decade, with a series of frustrating exits during his spells in charge of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City.
Guardiola, 48, first won the Champions League as a manager in 2009 with Barcelona. His second came with Barca in 2011.
City’s best Champions League run was under Guardiola’s predecessor Manuel Pellegrini, who made the semifinals in the season before the Spaniard took over.
The video assistant referee was the scapegoat for last season’s dramatic quarterfinal defeat against Tottenham, but the real reasons for City’s failure to progress were a subdued first leg performance in north London and a defensive meltdown in the second leg.
The year before, Liverpool punished City’s oddly timid quarterfinal display at Anfield, while Monaco shockingly eliminated them after an error-prone last-16 tie in his first season.
With five Champions League semifinal defeats on his CV – two with Barca and three with Bayern – Guardiola has become the competition’s “nearly man” since 2011, when his Lionel Messi-inspired team delivered a masterclass against Manchester United.
There is the looming prospect of Uefa sanctions, with City potentially facing a Champions League ban from the ongoing investigation into their adherence to financial fair play regulations.
At least they have what looks on paper a relatively undemanding group, with Atalanta and Dinamo Zagreb their other opponents.
Worryingly, City have endured a rocky start to the new Premier League season. They are already five points behind leaders Liverpool after last Saturday’s surprise 3-2 defeat at Norwich, a result that showed how badly they will miss injured centre-back Aymeric Laporte.
Guardiola remains adamant his players will steer City back to calmer waters even without Laporte.
“If today you believe I have doubts in my team because we lost a game... In the first season it was ‘fraud Guardiola, fraudiola’. OK, and how it was not possible to play this way because you have too many tackles.
“It was these players who gave me the prestige I have all round the world about how good a manager I am.” –