Tinkering for the biggest game in City’s history, the unfamiliar line-up sent out by Guardiola was beaten by a coach in only his 30th match in-charge of Chelsea.
Man City manager Pep Guardiola (right) consoles his players after their defeat to Chelsea in the Champions League final
Imagine telling Pep Guardiola a decade ago he wouldn’t be lifting the European Cup again. The wait goes on. Three times falling short in campaigns with Bayern Munich. Now a fifth failure with Man City. For all his coaching genius, Guardiola can be too clever for his own good.
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A 10-year wait to return to a Champions League final—after the second of his Barcelona successes—is a long time. And overthinking, if the strategy to take on Chelsea was anything to go by on Saturday. Tinkering for the biggest game in City’s history, the unfamiliar line-up sent out by Guardiola was beaten by a coach in only his 30th match in-charge of Chelsea.
Make no mistake: City had no one to blame but themselves on a night when they had only one shot on target as Chelsea won 1-0 in Porto. We’ve got used to City playing without strikers. Yet, in the desperate search for an equaliser, Gabriel Jesus and then Sergio Aguero were sent on.
There would be no fairytale ending for Aguero with a repeat of the late drama that saw him clinch City’s first Premiership title in 2012. The Premiership trophy has been lifted another four times since—thrice under Guardiola—but the quest to win the biggest prize in Europe goes on. There was the unexpected setback of losing playmaker Kevin De Bruyne over concussion fears after an hour. But just why did Guardiola again shackle the creativity of Ilkay Gündogan when he’s top scorer for the club this season? Instead, the German was held back in a defensive midfield role while Rodri and Fernandinho started on the bench. At least one of the positional specialists had started in every game apart from one in Man City’s 60 matches this season.
Also Read: I think I have a new contract after Champions League joy: Thomas Tuchel
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