City is ready for different club
If there is an author’s team, recognizable in any instance, it is usually Manchester City. The football expectations that it generates are aligned with a very characteristic idea by placing the offensive accent on each of the decisions that are made. However, respect for Real Madrid, which the sky blue coach himself has verbalized in each of his public appearances, was also staged in the game plan that he put into practice at the Bernabéu. Even Guardiola himself acknowledged it yesterday before facing the second leg: “We have to improve the first leg, try to bring more balls into attack. I have the idea of doing something different, simply to be able to be more fluid in attack”.
Different strategy at the Etihad
Waiting for what they decide to do at the Etihad, in the first leg it was never City, despite overwhelming possession in some phases of the game (68% in the first half) and an eleven apparently on attack. Guardiola fell into the temptation of prioritizing precaution and order over his offensive vocation due to the known fear of suffering Madrid’s transitions. Around this suspicion, he conceived a reserve approach, with fixed positions of his players to be prepared for the loss and without taking risks in the construction of the plays. It was a conventional team, without an ounce of rebellion, far from the height of the tactical innovations that Guardiola always handles on big stages. The ball was always from the inside out. Almost nobody,with the exception of Rodri and Gündogan in isolation, looked for inside passes to the sides or the back of the Madrid midfielders. If there was an option inside that carried a certain danger in case of error, he always looked to the sides.