When Liverpool successfully locked up a place in the Champions League final, another vacant seat, whether it is Manchester City or Real Madrid, has become the focus of fans' attention. In the first leg, Manchester City still scored 4 goals despite missing 3 excellent scoring opportunities, and in terms of attacking attributes alone, Manchester City undoubtedly had the initiative to advance.
In the second leg, City continued to follow suit, and in the 90 minutes of regular time, City barely let Real Madrid find the goal, and Mahrez once again extended the aggregate score by 2 goals, directly starting Benzema's "evolutionary program". Assists, points, reversals, Benzema almost single-handedly, completely turned Guardiola's tactics into paper.
Leading by 179 minutes over two legs, Guardiola was overwhelmed by the defeat
Although City were not perfect on either end of the two legs, in the 180-minute regular time, City maintained a score lead from the first 2 minute de Bruyne to break the deadlock first. Therefore, on the tactical level, Guardiola was well prepared enough and did not accidentally live as before.
In the first leg, due to Walker's injury, The suspension of Cancelo, the absence of two Full-backs, the lack of confidence in guarding Guardiola, coupled with the absence of Real Madrid Casemiro, and the cancellation of the away goal advantage in the Champions League this season, Guardiola adopted the tactical idea of attacking instead of defending.
With a two-goal lead in 11 minutes, City took the lead on the road to the Champions League final, and in the following games, although Manchester City exposed the drawbacks of low scoring efficiency and Benzema's intermittent turnover at the Manchester City backcourt, it is clear that these factors are basically within the predictable range of Guardiola, and the 4-3 first leg score, although not perfect, is at least a stage success.
With the return of walker and Cancelo in the second leg, and the reorganization of the real madrid midfield iron triangle, Guardiola is not as aggressive as home, but slowly consumes real madrid's patience through steady tactics. Honestly, Guardiola was still confident before Walker's injury.
With Walker's passive adjustment, plus time to 72 minutes, Guardiola realised that Real Madrid's all-out counter-attack was about to begin. Therefore, de Bruyne, who performed mediocre, was removed and replaced by Gundogan to strengthen midfield control. A minute later, Mahrez's goal once again strengthened Guardiola's determination to stabilize the situation.
It was then replaced by Jesus with Glalis, strengthening the dribbling in the front to further contain the Real Madrid defense, and Fernandinho's appearance to consolidate the defensive control rhythm. It can be said that Guardiola's several substitutions did not want to work the whole work, but was very pragmatic. As for the final earth-shattering reversal by Real Madrid, perhaps at the tactical level, Guardiola can't find the answer.
No front and No Champions League? Benzema released the answer
If walker and Cancelo's absence in the first leg gave Real Madrid a chance to breathe in the Etihad, if it was said, Laporte and Díaz both sent penalties, burying City's chances of qualifying. It may seem plausible, but injuries to players and accidents on the pitch are an inevitable part of the game, especially in the Champions League.
Then if the problem of Manchester City's tragic reversal by Real Madrid is attributed to the lack of offensive efficiency and resilience, it seems that it is easier to solve the dilemma of Manchester City's Champions League. So it raises another question: is City's no-front line suitable for the Champions League? Especially the knockout rounds.
With the departure of the team's historical goalscorer Aguero, Guardiola has constructed a frontless formation in the past 2 seasons. Although City are still firmly in the first group of the league in terms of total goals, neither last season's team goalscorers Wang Gundogan nor de Bruyne and Mahrez this season can only rank 9th in the league top scorer list.
Therefore, it can be concluded that City's no-front team has compensated for the impact of Aguero's departure through more scoring points, and such an offensive form has a clear advantage for the long league. First of all, it can reduce the impact of the main shooter on the team's attack due to injury and condition; secondly, in the face of different opponents, you can switch the offensive combination at will; the third round is more comfortable, so as to maintain the continuous offensive power throughout the season.
Through the pie chart of Manchester City's league goal scorers in the past two seasons, it can be intuitively seen that Gundogan, who scored the most goals in the 20-21 season (13 goals), only scored 4 goals more than Foden (9 goals), who ranked fifth in the number of goals; this figure in the 21-22 season is still maintained at 3 goals. That is to say, Manchester City's overall goal count has not been much weakened, but it is obviously lacking in scoring bursts.
Such a feature, in the Champions League knockout matches that need to be output instantly, show disadvantages. In the two-legged match against Real Madrid, Manchester City scored a total of 5 goals, and the overall offensive strength is not inferior to Real Madrid. However, in the final stages of the game, Real Madrid, who are in a desperate situation, can abandon tactics, hang into the box through long passes, and clearly target Benzema to find the attacking flashpoint to achieve miraculous results.
And Manchester City in the state of Mingjin, coupled with the lack of offensive explosive points, it is difficult to quickly reverse the situation through tactical adjustment, which is why in extra time, Manchester City can only watch the score being reversed by Benzema, and can not make an offensive response.
Champions League again drink hate, Guardiola accept the reality = defeat to Klopp?
Once again on the way to the end of the Champions League, Guardiola's 6-year Manchester City coaching career, although it has created countless records and achievements in the Premier League, it is always difficult to say. After all, before Guardiola came to the Etihad, Mancini and Pellegrini left behind a league-winning team.
At the same time, in the peak match with Klopp, Guardiola's 3 Premier League trophies, in front of Klopp's 1 Champions League trophy and 1 Premier League trophy, did not look so glamorous. In particular, Klopp will extend the contract until 2026, coupled with the fact that this season is expected to break the number of trophies again in the Champions League and the Premier League, if Guardiola chooses to leave Manchester City at the end of next season to accept reality, it is clear that Guardiola will lose to Klopp, such a result is undoubtedly difficult for Guardiola to accept.
Write at the end of the article:
It is reported that Manchester City have prepared a contract extension that expires in 2025 and are expected to bring Haaland to the Etihad next season. For Guardiola, there seems to be no reason to refuse, whether it is to make good on his promise, to set off a new round of tactical changes, or to fight Klopp to the end.