On the evening of 18 March, the 2021/22 Champions League quarter-final draw ceremony took place, and as a result, the defending champions Chelsea and last season's semi-final rivals Real Madrid once again met, and Manchester City and Atletico Met for the first time, and these four teams formed the death zone. The second half was in harmony, with Bayern against Villarreal and Liverpool offering Benfica, with both teams almost booking semi-final spots.
For Manchester City, this draw is estimated to be a bit unhappy, because before this, they can be described as good luck in the Champions League draw, last season's quarter-final battle, their opponent is the Bundesliga team Borussia Dortmund, last season was Lyon, and further ahead is Tottenham Hotspur, although they lost 2 times in the quarter-finals of 3 times, but the strength of the opponent is actually not strong. This time, City's quarter-finals met Atletico Madrid, the most experienced La Liga champion who had just killed Manchester United. It was an out-and-out encounter, as the two sides had never met before in an official match.
In terms of technical style, the current Atletico still gives Manchester City a headache. In recent times, the reason why Manchester City has repeatedly lost points in the Premier League, being chased by Liverpool to the back of the ass, and the lack of frontal play has gradually been explored is the most important reason. Once the opponent consciously recycles the defensive line during the game and does not give Manchester City a comfortable transmission opportunity for the players in the front, Manchester City, which lacks a real striker, will encounter big trouble in attack. The last round of the Premier League was forced into a 0-0 draw by Crystal Palace, which is a good example.
Defensively, City are also in trouble, with the main right-back Kyle Walker still in his suspension and unable to play in two legs with Atletico. In addition, their Portuguese centre-back Rubendiaz is still recuperating from injuries and does not know if he will be able to catch up with Atletico. If the Third Manchester City captain can't play, Guardiola will have to work without tidying up, after all, the back line is facing restructuring.
Of course, in terms of overall strength, Manchester City still has the upper hand, Atletico's performance in La Liga this season can only be said to be average, and now in the case of one more game with Barca with 51 points in the fourth place, only 2 points ahead of Real Betis behind them, a little careless may not be able to qualify for next season's Champions League. Therefore, these two rounds of the game belong to the two heads of the wolf.
Compared with the encounter against Atletico, Real Madrid and Chelsea are the teams that Manchester City know better and are not afraid of, in the 2019/20 knockout round, Manchester City faced Real Madrid, who was still coached by Zidane at the time, and as a result, Manchester City reversed 2-1 away and won 2-1 at home again, with an aggregate score of 4-2 double victory over the Galaxy. And Chelsea, who lost in the Champions League final last season, Manchester City also successfully avenged the double with two 1-0 doubles in this season's Premier League.
Then again, if you want to win the title, you have to beat all the opponents in front of you, so Manchester City don't have to worry about who the opponent is, and the ball is better than one.