In the early morning of April 6, Beijing time, the 21-22 Champions League quarterfinalists were in full swing, one of the focus games, Manchester City sat at the Etihad Stadium to meet last season's La Liga champion Atletico Madrid. The game came to the second half, Guardiola made a substitution, just sent Foden on the bench for 2 minutes to complete the assist, De Bruyne broke the deadlock on the field.
In this season's Champions League matches, Manchester City have been as stable as ever, and they have qualified for the first place in the group stage to beat Paris. In the just-concluded round of 16 matches, Manchester City can be said to have encountered no difficulties. Facing defending Portuguese Champions Sport of the Portuguese Premier League, Guardiola's team set the tone for victory with a five-goal victory in the first leg.
In contrast, Atletico's journey in the Champions League can be described as bumps and bumps. In the group stage, Atletico did not rely on victories to get a place to qualify until the final round. In the round of 16, they also encountered Manchester United, who owned Ronaldo. As a result, facing the nemesis, Simeone finally broke through the level and advanced to the quarterfinals with an aggregate score of 2-1.
Since Díaz was still recuperating, Guardiola sent a combination of 3 centre-backs in this game, which is part of a change of team. On Simeone's side, he put Griezmann and Phoenix on the forward line, and on the bench sat Su Ya, De Paul and other players who could change the game at any time.
In the first half, the away atletico were determined to defend, and they did not have a single kick in the goal for 45 minutes. In terms of passing, the number of passes between Stones and Laporta also exceeded the entire Team of Atletico. Facing the opponent's iron-hearted bus defense, Guardiola also seemed helpless.
In the second half, Simeone was the first to change the team, and he replaced three players in a row, including argentine Paulo. It's an offensive signal that Atletico don't want a 0-0 draw away from home and Simeone wants to take away the win.
However, such a change was seen by Guardiola as an opportunity. Guardiola then switched to three attacking players to try to further control the rhythm of the field. As a result, less than 2 minutes after Fukuto played, the deadlock on the field was broken. The England youngster sent a precise pass, de Bruyne inserted into the box and whipped the goal, finally breaking through the opponent's defense.
Such a goal also made Guardiola shout. It is worth mentioning that this is De Bruyne's first goal in the Champions League this season, and against Atletico Madrid, the score of Mr. 9000W is precious. At one point in this game, Guardiola sent 3 centre-backs in the starting lineup, and the fans once thought he had to work again. But the timely changes in the second half have allowed City to successfully gain the lead.