Pep Guardiola's black hole

dreissa029 (28)in #news • 2 years ago

Manchester City and Pep Guardiola have been knocked out from the Champions League yet again.

After finishing as runners-up against Chelsea in 2021, City's journey in the Champions League came to an end in the semi-final on Wednesday night against Real Madrid.

They were simply victims of another miraculous night at the Bernabeu, coming so close, yet being so far.

It seemed like Guardiola's men had set up the final against Liverpool when Riyad Mahrez scored the first goal of the night in the 73rd minute to make it 5-3 on aggregate.

Little did they know just moments before the 90 minutes were up that a certain 21-year old Brazilian called Rodrygo would score two goals in the space of 90 seconds to send the game to extra time.

"I've suffered other tough defeats in the Champions League, like Barcelona's against Chelsea," said a visibly disappointed Guardiola.

"We were very close. In the first half it was difficult for us, but in the second it was better. In the end we didn't finish [the game] controlling it."

Manchester City did everything they could to reach a second consecutive Champions League final. They even had clear cut chances, two of them from Jack Grealish, to put the tie to bed. But it just wasn't to be.

A Karim Benzema penalty in the fifth minute of extra time was the final nail in City's coffin, and the Sky Blues just couldn't recover thereafter.

Guardiola hasn't been able to conquer the Champions League since his departure from Barcelona. Pep is the coach who has been eliminated from the Champions League semi-finals the most times. He was the coach of Barcelona when they lost to Inter in 2010 and Chelsea in 2012.

Then, as coach of Bayern Munich, three consecutive meetings against Spanish teams would follow. In 2014, they lost to Real Madrid. In 2015, they lost to Luis Enrique's Barcelona.

And in 2016, they lost to Atletico Madrid. Wednesday's defeat against Carlo Ancelotti's Real Madrid was the coach's sixth in the Champions League semi-finals.

All that's not to say, far from it, that Guardiola's abilities as a coach are diminished, at least at a continental level. It's the equivalent of one of the best penalty takers in football missing his penalty. Is it any different?

Guardiola has stated multiple times how difficult it is to win the Champions League, despite the fact that he has had the required players and resources to do so.

However, luck has not been on their side when his teams have needed to take that critical stride that separates success from defeat, especially after leaving Camp Nou in 2012.

More so when you are facing a team like Real Madrid, who shouldn't be left any chance to get back up even merely seconds away from the final whistle.

Comebacks and goals

A tendency that has emerged in critical games for Pep Guardiola's clubs in the Champions League is allowing goals in extremely short time frames.

Manchester City faced Lyon in the quarter-finals of the 2020 mini-tournament in Portugal, after eliminating Real Madrid in the Round of 16.

The game was tied at 1-1, but Moussa Dembele scored twice in an eight-minute blitz to leave City shell-shocked, with the second goal coming just three minutes from full-time.

City lost their quarter-final encounter against Tottenham Hotspur the year before, when business as usual still reigned in the pre-pandemic era.

Heung-min Son needed just three minutes to score twice and fight back from Raheem Sterling's opening goal in the second leg. Manchester City did win the second leg 4-3, but Fernando Llorente's goal, which Guardiola recalls being scored using his hand, was enough to eliminate the Cityzens on away goals.

Despite the fact that Guardiola's troops had much of the second leg against Real Madrid under control, the final outcome simply didn't go in his favour.

His team conceded three goals in six minutes in Wednesday's encounter, with two being scored in the final minutes of the game, then the third coming at the start of extra time.

Pep Guardiola has questioned whether he is capable of winning Manchester City's first Champions League :

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The Catalan coach spoke to the press ahead of his side's Premier League meeting with Newcastle, but was in a dejected mood after their painful Champions League semi final loss to Real Madrid on Wednesday.

"Maybe I'm not good enough to help the team to do it," Guardiola said. "Nobody knows what would have happened with other players or managers. For us, it is an honour to be there as much as possible in all competitions.

"I know that some people don't appreciate what this club is doing, maybe it is not enough but for me it is incredibly remarkable being in the semi-finals of the Champions League again after last season and making steps to be there and competing against an outstanding team in this competition the way we did it home and away.

"We were close, not close enough because the team deserves it so Madrid are in the final because they deserve it."

Guardiola understands that the team will be criticised for their most recent disappointment in Europe, but the coach disagrees that it is justified.

2 years ago in #news by dreissa029 (28)

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Pep Guardiola's black hole

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