Give City some credit, they made Madrid look that bad
HUGE clubs like Real Madrid and Barcelona never seem to get beaten. They only lose.
And so when City saw off the Spanish champions 2-1 at the Etihad on Friday night, the TV pictures showed more shots of Sergio Ramos, stony-faced in the stand, than they did of some of their pink-shirted players.
The narrative was being spun that Ramos’s suspension was the key factor, an absence which fed directly into Raphael Varane’s two errors on the night.
But that ignores two essential factors – that Ramos played in the first leg, and was equally troubled by Gabriel Jesus, and the role that City’s quality pressing played in forcing the first mistake from France international Varane.
No doubt Ramos’s absence was a blow to Madrid, and the fact that they had lost five of the six Champions League games he had previously missed – a stat which now extends to six out of seven.
But it blithely forgets that Ramos played in the first leg, where he was out-jumped by the eager Jesus for City’s equaliser.
And the very fact he was suspended for the second leg came from the red card he picked up in that first game, when Jesus was just too nippy and quick of thought and forced him into a professional foul – otherwise Jesus might have finished the tie off in the Bernabeu.
City deserved that win too, with Ramos in the team, and in front of the partisan Madrid crowd.
Varane held up his hands after Friday’s game and took the burden of defeat squarely on his own shoulders.
And, while the two errors did lead directly to goals for City, Pep Guardiola’s tactical set-up and team selection undoubtedly forced the first mistake, which destroyed Varane’s confidence and probably led
I’d like to give credit to what we’ve done. We scored from their mistakes but we forced those errors Pep Guardiola
directly to the second. When asked about Varane’s mistakes, Guardiola answered with praise for the non-stop Jesus, and the pressing of his front five.
“I’d like to give credit to what we’ve done,” he said. “We’ve created chances to score more goals, we scored from their mistakes but we forced those errors.
“This competition punishes you. We know from our own experiences but I think Gabriel made his contribution to this.
“He’s the best guy making these kind of actions for the aggression and intuition. I think Gabriel was man of these two games – he scored in Madrid, he provoked the penalty [Ramos’s red card] and today made an assist and scored. “He was so decisive for us. He helped the team for the way we fought and suffered in the bad moments.” Analysis of the first goal shows exactly how City boxed in the Real
Madrid back four and forced the error from Varane.
They had worked on it, and Guardiola picked his team with such strategy in mind – Real don’t often get that kind of harassment in La Liga.
“I decided this team selection for the aggression for our three players up front and the midfield,” Guardiola said to the TV cameras just before kick-off.
The way Phil Foden led the hunt once the ball had been played back to Eder Militao, and the perfect positioning of the Stockport youngster, Raheem Sterling, Jesus and Kevin de Bruyne, had Madrid retreating into an ever-shrinking patch of the pitch.
Varane ended up facing keeper Thibaut Courtois – who City wanted in possession, due to his poor feet – with Militao, Ferland Mendy and Dani Carvajal all blocked off by the Blue marauders.
He hesitated for a split second, knowing what a liability the Belgium keeper can be with the ball at his feet in tight situations, and that was enough.
His error was poor, but it was brilliantly forced by City, beginning on the training ground, carried on by the team selection and superbly executed by the front three.