Manchester City’s coach Pep Guardiola puts the chance of progressing against Real Madrid before the playoff second leg in the Champions League on Wednesday evening (from 9 p.m. here in the live ticker). The hopes rest on the newcomers.
“If you ask before the game how great the chance is that we will get on in Bernabeu, then it is probably one percent”said Pep Guardiola in the press conference after his team’s 4-0 win on the weekend about Newcastle.
Guardiola – “If we had always played that way, we would not have been 22nd”
Even if Guardiola is well known for sometimes praising opponents before playing about the normal degree and assessing your own situation as challenging, it is a sentence that shows how the self -image at Manchester City in recent weeks and months has changed. In the league, the chance of the championship is there in view of 16 points behind the leaders Liverpool and fourth place just before Bournemouth and behind Nottingham and in the premier class it sees after 22nd in the group phase and the 2: 3 home defeat in Playoff -Inch against Real Madrid is also pretty dark.
“But of course there is a chance – and we will try. As we always try.” This is how Guardiola’s sentence continues. “If we had always played in the Champions League like today (against Newcastle, editor’s note), then we would not have been 22. But the reality is that we are very bad this season in many games this season have occurred. “ Frust and realism from the Spaniard, who has never experienced such a negative run in his highly decorated coaching career.
In the first leg it looked for Manchester City until shortly before the end after a win
Turning a 2: 3 in a second leg at Real Madrid is actually a task that, if you have a purely historical look at the past few years, would be aptly quantified. Especially for a team that has been in the weakest constitution for many years in the past few months.
The situation in reality is not quite as dramatic for the Citizens. Because until shortly before the end, City led the game in the first leg before Brahim Diaz and Jew Bellingham still turned the game in the 86th and 90th+2 after individual errors of the hosts. The Guardiola-Elf had not dominated the first leg, but could have won it.
Marmoush, Khusanov and the “Mini-Rodri” as Hopeful
Now just this successful dress rehearsal against Newcastle. A 4: 0, in which Omar Marmoush scored his first three goals for City and in which his colleagues also offered strong performance. The key player was not only marmoush, there were also two other winter newcomers presented themselves as candidates for the starting eleven against Madrid: the 20-year-old Abdukodir Khusanov delivered a lightning-clean idea in central defense-the sheikh club had the services of the Let Uzbeken cost the RC Lens. And in view of the unclear health status of Rúben Dias and Nathan Aké and the violation of Manuel Akanji, Khusanov is also a raffle for the big second leg in Bernabeu, which would also be the greatest game of his young career.
Almost even more important in the long term, because structurally still more hopeful, was probably the use of Nico González. Since the violation of Rodri, the Guardiola team has not noticed a physical and defensive presence in the central midfield. There was no midfielder in this profile in the squad. Until now. Guardiola and Co. transferred 60 million euros two weeks ago to FC Porto for the 23-year-old, who was trained in La Masia, Barcelona’s famous youth academy, and is also beyond any doubt on the ball. The starting debut of the 1.88-meter man was definitely promising-whether Guardiola already trusts him against the Madrilenen is open. However, the fact that Guardiola promptly referred to him as “mini-rodri” can already be understood as a “mini-knighthood”.
Real Madrid also with a small shape low
In search of optimism for the fans of the “Skyblues”, the current form of the Madrilenen remains. In the league, the eleven of Carlo Ancelotti has not won three times in a row and has lost the leadership lead in the fight for the championship. After the first leg, Real is of course the clear favorite in Bernabeu and is much better in the league than Manchester City – but for the defending champion, the surprising departure would be no less serious. Here, too, a titled season would suddenly threaten in February.
If Pep Guardiola’s new additions on Wednesday take care of the “one percent miracle”, this would definitely give the Citizens’ season a completely new spin.