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Manchester City eliminate reigning Real Madrid

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Pep Guardiola’s men won 2 goals to 1 against Real Madrid. Already in favorable waivers following the first leg (1-2), the Citizens have imposed their offensive force to rally the ‘”final 8″ which will be played next week in Lisbon.

Manchester City and Pep Guardiola created a sensation on Friday August 7 by qualifying for the quarter-finals of the Champions League against Real Madrid (2-1, 2-1), becoming the first team to bring down coach Zinédine Zidane in C1. Les Mancuniens will be opposed to Olympique Lyonnais, striker of Juventus, in the quarter-final on August 15 in Lisbon.

Obviously, history will remember the two huge errors of Raphaël Varane who seemed lost without Sergio Ramos, suspended, at his side, who offered the two goals to the Mancunians, but on this double confrontation, it is indeed a victory tactics of master Pep Guardiola.

Tactical demonstration by Pep Guardiola

As in the first leg, the Catalan had opted at the start of the match for a tactical blow by exiling his true center-forward, Gabriel Jesus, on the left wing, to leave the axis to a “false-nine”, Phil Foden , as Raheem Sterling started from the right.

A system designed to suck Madrid’s central defenders – so strong in duels when the opponent is up against them – out of position to open up spaces for wingers’ cross runs or midfielders. A system that also quickly put Madrid under an unbearable pressing extremely penalizing for its construction from the rear.

It was also during an intense pressing phase that Thibault Courtois placed Varane in a bad position in his area, rather than playing long. Too borrowed, the French stopper was stolen the ball by Gabriel Jesus who immediately served Sterling alone against the empty goal for the opener (1-0, 9th).

After the break, Guardiola returned to a more classic 4-3-3 with Jesus in the middle, as he did at the Bernabeu to turn things around in five minutes in the last quarter of an hour.

And again, this change paid off since this devil of Jesus well anticipated a too soft head back from Varane for Courtois, to slip his left foot and send the ball bouncing to the back of the net (2-1, 68th) .

A particularly cruel observation for the Belgian goalkeeper who had multiplied the decisive parries at the start of the second half against Sterling (47th, 54th) and Jesus, still him (66th) to keep the hopes of the Merengue alive.

Benzema too lonely

Meanwhile, Karim Benzema, another great satisfaction on the side of the roses for a night, had relaunched the match by scoring his 65th Champions League goal of his career, which made him the 4th director of the competition. He had served Rodrygo well between the lines who had eliminated on his first contact Joao Cancelo, and the Brazilian center had found Benzema alone at six meters to score with a header (1-1, 28 ‘).

But Benzema was a little too lonely to pose problems for the opposing defense, Eden Hazard rarely having shone in this match.

A goal that would tear out Guardiola’s hair if he did not shave it, because between his pass to Rodrygo and his head, none of the Mancunian defenders sought to know where the French would be placed.

A demonstration, if necessary, that City will really need to progress defensively if they want to lift the trophy, as the Catalan had said in a press conference before the match.

City will nevertheless travel to Lisbon for the Final 8, with a quarter-final against Lyon, and can dream of transforming a season marked by the loss of the title to Liverpool into a first continental triumph.

With AFP

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