From stoppage time to extra time, City conceded three goals in just six minutes, allowing Real Madrid to complete an incredible comeback. Guardiola, stunned on the sidelines, seemed to have made no mistakes, but the team was once again regrettably out.
If you use big data to analyze the 11 Champions League knockout trips of Guardiola's career, in addition to 2 titles and 1 final 0-1, the other 8 outs are caused by the instantaneous collapse of the defensive line (consecutive goals conceded in a short period of time). The 8 crashes were a total of 20 goals conceded in 92 minutes, which is shocking to watch closely!
01. 20 goals conceded in 8 crashes: a total of 92 minutes
Do you remember volcanic ash and Mourinho's counterattack?
As can be seen from the data in the figure below, Guardiola's 8 Champions League exits, the most tragic is not even the 6 minutes of this year's 6 minutes to concede 3 goals, because in 2019 there are still 3 minutes to concede 2 goals in the darkest moment.
The source of all this began in 2010 at the Meazza Stadium, when Mourinho's side completed the reversal with a sharp counter-attack, giving Barca, which had a 1-0 lead, a 1-3 defeat.
In the match against Inter, because of the volcanic ash, Barca had to take a bus to the city of Milan, which was somewhat tiring. However, after taking a 1-0 lead, the Red and Blue Army still pressed forward in an overall formation.
As a result, Mourinho's sharp counterattack made Guardiola pay the "tuition fee" (although he never graduated).
b. At home to a team & at camp Nou lost to a man
In his first season in charge of Bayern, Guardiola led his team to the champions league semi-finals, but after a small defeat to Real Madrid in the first leg, they returned to Bayern's own home stadium and they suffered an unbelievable 0-4 defeat.
Conceding three goals in 18 minutes, guardiola's heart should have been shaken when the opponent's counter-attack penetrated the Bayern defence, which was too far ahead, again and again. In the years that followed, the tactics were no longer so aggressive.
A year later, Guardiola's Bayern once again met a La Liga side, but it was no longer Real Madrid, but Messi's Barcelona.
This time Guardiola's tactics were very low-key, with Bayern giving up possession and relatively reclaiming the formation. As a result, just when everyone thought Guardiola could save a draw away from home, Messi used a stone-breaking long-range shot to knock neuer's ten fingers off.
Soon, Messi was back, and he left behind a classic goal that went down in history. When Boateng crashed to the ground, Guardiola's Champions League dream was once again hit hard.
In 17 minutes, Messi scored 2 goals and 1 assist, and Bayern Munich suffered a 0-3 defeat. They are not far from a "flat" opponent, this is a game that Guardiola played very pragmatically, but it can not compete with Messi's talent.
02. 1 billion team to replace the entire defense line: still can not buy foolproof
a. When the defense line is aging, it will change blood: when you see what you like, buy it
In his first year at City, Guardiola was faced with an old defence and leaking wind. Conceded 2 goals in 8 minutes and was eliminated by Monaco on the road.
The Manchester City boss pulled out a check to support his manager, and Guardiola saw the defender he wanted and started buying.
When Liverpool scored three goals in 19 minutes and broke up City's defence again and again, it made Guardiola, who had been on the smooth side of the league, understand once again that the rhythm of the Champions League and the league is not the same.
It cost more than 400 million to strengthen the defense, and the position of full-back alone cost nearly 200 million.
However, Guardiola can't change his vision when choosing players, because he is pursuing defenders to serve the attack, and his defenders first know how to help the attack speed up.
b. The ball is always a mistake in the centre-back: what about Guardiola?
In the 2018-19 season, the squad was originally thought to be strong enough, and the result was precisely the center-back Laporte, who spent a lot of money on Guardiola, which became the biggest problem.
When Sterling took the lead for the team, Laporte turned around because of his own mistake and sent an assist to Son Heung-min, allowing the opponent to equalize instantly.
Just 3 minutes later, Laporte made another incredible stop-ball mistake, allowing the opponent to win the counterattack, and behind Son Heung-min's two degrees, Laporte was even called the king of assists.
Guardiola may abandon him because of his constant mistakes as a striker, but he will not easily abandon a centre-back who is technically good at his feet and occasionally short-circuited.
The problem is that no matter how good the center-back technique is, when it comes to the faster-paced Champions League stage, there is a high probability that it will make mistakes when controlling the ball. The more you pursue this style of play, the more trouble the team will encounter.
Manchester City's 3-1 victory over Lyon, some fans feel that it is a big cold, but in fact, there are many inevitable. The most important thing in the Lyon team is the impact of the players, the fast start, so any mistake in the Manchester City backcourt, can have a fatal result.
This time Laporte passed the ball to the feet of his opponent, and then he slipped and could only watch the opponent break the goal.
Eight minutes later, Laporte slipped again and City's frail technical defender could not resist the onslaught of his opponents, conceding the third goal that locked up the finale.
03. Pursue control but can't keep it for 90 minutes: Will Guardiola change?
A. Guardiola's selection habits: it is decided that the team must attack for 90 minutes
When Guardiola chose Rodri, De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva as the team's starting midfield combination, while the front court was more like a frontless team, it was decided that the team must ensure that it will continue to dominate the attack.
Otherwise, once it enters the main defense stage, the confrontation and strength of the midfield are inferior, and it does not have a strong destructive force, which will further strengthen the pressure of the center-back.
Guardiola's centre-backs are not really defensive in their own right, so would it be a surprise that Laporte has come up again?
When Real Madrid's attacking mode is extremely simple, that is, when the cross hits the box, it may also be the best mode to hit Guardiola.
You can't blame Guardiola's players for not working hard enough, their running distance has come to an astonishing height.
But his team lost control of the ball, and the problem was exposed in an instant.
Why did he concede 3 goals in 6 minutes, when Camarvin increased the speed, Manchester City was instantly penetrated, and rodri, the only defender, could not keep up with the opponent's speed, which was also the result of Guardiola's selection.
The high press cannot last 120 minutes, and when Real Madrid bring the game into extra time, The end of City's defeat may already be doomed.
Because Real Madrid's goal came early, they stopped attacking in the second half of overtime, but instead covered up some of City's problems.
b. How does Guardiola change? His answer was offense
In his post-match press conference, Guardiola explained the reason for the loss: we should keep attacking.
There is nothing wrong with this statement, because since this model of team building has been chosen, then sticking to the attack is the only option.
Over the past 5 years, City have invested more than €1 billion in Guardiola to build a team. In addition to Haaland this summer, what other strong reinforcements will City buy?
Will Guardiola's next renewal area be midfield? Perhaps Gundogan and Fernandinho will need a younger replacement.
Conclusion:
Guardiola's current status was earned by his distinctive style of football, not just because of the number of titles. Even many coaches who have scored better than Guardiola may not be able to win his prestige and love.
However, beautiful football is ultimately more difficult to win the cup than the average way of playing, which is the same for Barca, Messi and Guardiola. On the football field, there are too many uncontrollable accidents, and when you want to be as perfect as possible, it may be the source of imperfection.
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