In the 2021 Champions League final, he did without a real six and regular left-back Joao Cancelo. His representative Oleksandr Zinchenko let Chelsea’s Kai Havertz escape from the winning goal. The previous season, Guardiola was shipwrecked against Lyon with a back three. In 2019 he sacrificed his best man Kevin De Bruyne in the same round against Tottenham and failed. 2018 was also the final stop in the round of eight – also because Guardiola surprisingly let Ilkay Gündogan play on the left against Liverpool and thus undermined the static of the city game.
His club is only in the semi-finals for the third time ever – and dreams of winning the first title in the premier class before the start this Tuesday (9 p.m. in the Sportschau live ticker) in their own stadium.
Guardiola: “We have to give everything we have”
“It’s going to be a special night for us. We have to enjoy it and give everything we have“Demanded Guardiola. Lost last year Manchester in the endgame dem Chelsea FC 0: 1, now it should go back to the final, which takes place on May 28th in Paris. The “Royal” from Madrid are an extremely unpleasant opponent. Real is a long way from the championship in the Spanish league and can fully focus on the “Citizens” concentrate, these are five games to go in the premier league one point ahead Liverpool.
Guardiola has won the league three times with City since taking office in 2016, but it has been a long time since he last triumphed in the Champions League. He did that in 2009 and 2011 with FC Barcelona.
No luck at Bayern
The now 51-year-old then failed at FC Bayern, just as he did with the English. Real already have “a few trophies in the cupboard,” said Guardiola about Real’s 13 trophies only in the premier class. This should also be an attempt to push the role of favorites to coach Carlo Ancelotti’s team. But the balance of power has long since changed.
“It is important that City is now on par with a team like Real Madrid“said Carlos Tevez in an interview on the Manchester club’s website. The ex-professional sees this as a big step forward and can’t see any reason why the English should be afraid of Madrid. City have invested a lot of money in recent years to make it to the top in Europe.
Final duel with Klopp’s Liverpool possible
The coronation should now take place, in a possible final it is against the winner of the encounter between the Liverpool FC around coach Jürgen Klopp and the Bayern conquerors from FC villa real. The teams meet for the first time on Wednesday (9:00 p.m. in the Sportschau live ticker) and the second leg is scheduled for next week.
Real should currently have respect for striker Gabriel Jesus in particular. With four goals in a 5-1 win over the relegation candidates Watford FC the Brazilian got in the mood for the game against Real. “If there’s one person in world football who deserves nights like this, it’s him”Guardiola had said about the 25-year-old.
Madrid also had the dress rehearsal in the 3-1 win against Osasuna in the league, but superstar Karim Benzema missed two penalties. The Frenchman scored the decisive goal in the second leg of the quarter-finals and was instrumental in the elimination of defending champions Chelsea. In the 3-1 win in the first leg, the attacker even scored three times himself in London.
Source: dpa