New Delhi: As the actual Kings of Europe tore apart the Cityzens, there was hardly a trace of the team that had defeated everyone in Istanbul. Real Madrid and an insatiable Kylian Mbappe destroyed Manchester City’s dreams of qualifying for the Champions League. The 15-time champions not only outperformed Pep Guardiola’s team in every department, but they also mentally and physically overpowered them. It was easy to forget that these two teams could only be separated by a penalty shootout when they faced each other in the quarterfinals of the previous season as Madrid easily won 3-1 on the evening and 6-3 overall.
It seemed like ages ago when City defeated Madrid 4-0 in the second leg of the 2023 semi-final at the Etihad Stadium. On Wednesday, the team that had firmly secured their place in the Istanbul final and won the club’s first-ever European Cup in Turkey was barely visible in the Spanish capital. John Stones hobbled off hurt in the eighth minute, making it four players out of the five playing in the second leg, that started the Champions League final against Inter. It turns out that Guardiola was correct all along when he stated in the pre-game news conference that City had a one percent chance of overcoming the 3-2 deficit from the first leg.
However, certain factors that affected their performance against the merciless Madrid, now sound too familiar to Pep Gurdiola and the Manchester City fans. Despite their recent demolishing of Newcastle United at Etihad, the way City played at Bernebeu, it suggested that the Cityzens played with no composure and confidence that they showed against the Magpies. In fact, this performance was worse than the first leg where the team showed some character.
Pep Guardiola: “I’ve faced the best Real Madrid in recent years, they are able to have the ball for a long time, defend, run, when they want to go forward, when they are behind… nothing, congratulations.” pic.twitter.com/9JVPCVRjA1
— Madrid Universal (@MadridUniversal) February 19, 2025
Relying on Bernardo and Gundogan was a mistake
It was clear that many fans were not happy to see Bernardo Silva and Ilkay Gundogan start, that too in a diamond formation against a side who have the pace and fresh legs of Real Madrid midfielders. Gundogan during his time was a top class midfielder and one thing that he excelled was the fact that he had the intelligence, technique and the game reading abilities that covered up for his slow pace and acceleration. When the 34-year-old mishandled a pass and futilely attempted to run after a much quicker Rodrygo, he awkwardly fouled him instead and received a booking, exposing his incapacity for a game like this at this point in his career.
Same goes for Bernardo Silva, who was once a true threat in this fixture, had little to offer defensively and sparked little no signs of threat in the game. Back-passes and timid movements restricted the midfield duo and that Madrid midfield was simply enjoying playing down the middle of the park. It is fair to say that Pep Guardiola’s decision of playing a diamond formation with Gudogan and Silva in the middle was a massive flop. Besides, this also exposed City’s ageing squad yet again, this is something all the pundits and fans across the world have been talking about since the beginning of the season.
To shed some light on James McAtee, the youngster showed some good fight coming onto the pitch in place of Phil Foden. However, to compare his performance to Gundogan and Silva, it has to be said that the youngster has to be included in the starting lineup more often. This factor has costed City quite a few games this season as it changes the pace of their play and becomes rarther monotonous. Currently, Manchester City’s playmaking and the pace in that midfield, which was never a problem for Pep’s side, is slowly becoming their biggest weakness and all of it has to do with the ageing squad.
City’s defence need some grooming
One may argue that Manuel Akanji’s injury at the conclusion of the first half at the Etihad last week was the reason City lost the match. Guardiola’s defense started to falter after that. And the floor at the Bernabeu started to give way after just a few minutes. The seasoned and shrewd Swiss was an important member of the treble-winning squad, and Rico Lewis, who took his place, was bullied in the first leg’s second half before eventually letting Vinicius have the ball in the lead-up to the late third goal.
Because of Lewis’ poor performance, Guardiola decided to try Abdukodir Khusanov in the second leg over him, but the Uzbek was just not prepared for such a big event against such strong opponents. Vinicius sliced the 20-year-old to ribbons and received very little encouragement while he was making his maiden Champions League debut.The evening’s events had begun when City’s defensive leader, Ruben Dias, mishandled a straightforward cutout, allowing Mbappe to meet Raul Asencio’s ball and lob Ederson.
Moments later, Stones was hauled off hurt, and the dominoes really started to fall. Shortly after, Mbappe dribbled his way past Khusanov, completely tricked a helpless Gvardiol, as Madrid sliced through City. Therefore, it was not surprising that nobody even tried to impede Mbappe’s path as he picked up the ball in the second half and headed for goal to finish his hat-trick. Despite the re-inforcements and the changes, Manchester City seem to be falling apart at the back. This suggests that there has to be a change in the mentality and the way these defenders take up their tasks.
Pep’s tactical disasterclass
Most of it has already been discussed above, when Pep Guardiola, who is easily one of the greatest masterminds in the history of the sport, made a massive mistake by bringing about a change that provided his side with little no help whatsoever. A diamond formation would probably be the last thing you would expect from Pep Guardiola as we have barely witnessed him use the 4-1-2-1-2 formation in any team that he has coached throughout his career.
It almost feels like an overthinking Pep Guardiola is trying too much with his tactics, but at the same time he is stubborn and rigid with his usual tactics. It is not too late for him to admit that teams have fully read and understood his tactics, which has resulted City getting bullied on the pitch. Even against Madrid, there was absolutely no need to play an ageing Gundogan in a more advanced role, when he knew that Madrid won’t shy away from causing constant threats in their half. Rather, it would have been much more understandable if Phil Foden took up the advancing role in that midfield with Gundogan joining Nico Gonzalez in his own half.
Besides, Haaland’s absence in the starting lineup surely would have suggested that playing two strikers would be the last option that Pep would go for, but surprisingly, the Spaniard decided to play Savinho along side Marmoush upfront. A more sensible formation would have been Pep Guardiola sticking with a 4-2-3-1 tactic, with Foden playing as an offensive midfielder and Savinho playing on the wings. Another big question that arises is why Jeremy Doku wasn’t introduced in the starting eleven ahead of Bernardo Silva?
Jack Grealish was a real threat and caused a lot of problems for Real Madrid, having a major role in that first goal that was scored by City before being subbed-off due to injury in the first leg. And just like that, there may have been no updates on Jack Grealish’s condition, but wasn’t he looking fit enough to fit into that eleven, or even get subbed-on? Pep certainly has a lot to answer after that second leg defeat.
Manchester City and Pep Guardiola suffered an embarassing loss against Real Madrid, that confirmed their exit from this season’s Champions League. The former holders had a night to forget at Santiago Bernebeu and they were left with no aswer against the defending champions. Football Sports News: Latest Cricket News, Cricket Live Score, Sports Breaking News from Sports Today
