VBefore the game, Pep Guardiola had spoken about the opponent. And when he gave a friendly lecture about the strengths of Borussia Mönchengladbach, he summed up his warning in two words: “German style”. Guardiola knows him, after all, he coached FC Bayern from 2013 to 2016 in the Bundesliga. At that time he had noticed what he thought was a typical German virtue that he was a little afraid of: the quick counterattack. After losing the ball of one’s own selection, things often went nimbly in the other direction. That can hit dominant, advanced teams hard.
Tobias Rabe
Responsible editor for Sport Online.
And so he warned of the same counterattacks before the first leg of the Champions League round of 16 against Borussia, which was not played on the Lower Rhine, but in Budapest, Hungary due to the entry ban for English guests. Manchester City could not completely prevent them, but in the end it was 2-0 for the leaders of the Premier League against the Bundesliga eighth. Not only because of the result, the quarter-finals for the Gladbachers on March 16 will be an impossible mission. The Guardiola team is simply too big these days.
That also calmed Guardiola after the game in the Puskás Aréna. “It was a good performance and I’m very satisfied,” he said on TV channel Sky. “A round of 16 first leg in the Champions League is always difficult, even if the game didn’t take place in Germany and it was empty. We played a good game, but we weren’t efficient enough in the end. We still have to improve that. We never embarrassed the goalkeeper, we have to work on that. ”That was all criticism at a very high level, because City was clearly superior.
“Very good season from Gündogan”
That was not least due to a German national player. Ilkay Gündogan is in excellent shape. Due to the injury of Kevin De Bruyne, who is now fit again and waited in vain in the stands in Budapest for an operation, Gündogan moved a little further forward in Guardiola’s formation. It will be exciting to see how the coach solves it when the Belgian is back in the team. Is he pulling Gündogan back into the defensive role? Will De Bruyne stay outside for now? There are luxury problems with a top-class squad.
In any case, Guardiola knows what he has about Gündogan, whose neighbor he is in a building complex in Manchester. “Ilkay has had a very good season so far. I’m very happy about it, he’s a fantastic footballer. He’s also very intelligent and a very nice guy, ”said the coach after the game against Mönchengladbach. In addition to the tactical variants at City, it will also be exciting to see how national coach Joachim Löw wants to integrate Gündogan into his German national team, should he keep his outstanding form until the European Championship in June.
There he could also meet a Gladbacher like Florian Neuhaus, who was on the loser’s side on Wednesday evening. Borussia didn’t do that much wrong, but had to acknowledge the bitter conclusion that their opponents are at least one class better in this form. “Manchester City did really well in possession. We knew what to expect and we followed a lot. We had one or the other chance to switch, but didn’t play it off properly. It’s incredibly bitter, but in the end City deserved to win. “
In fact, the Gladbachers were not flawless. And too rarely did they themselves provoke a mistake on the part of the opponent, as Neuhaus finally had to recognize. “We lacked the accuracy and the courage. We should have run higher, then you could see that they also make mistakes. Unfortunately, we haven’t been able to put pressure on City enough to make them make these mistakes. ”And the prospects for the second leg? “Anything is possible in football. It starts all over again and we want to be brave. We know we need the goals in the second leg. “
Only Manchester City scored goals in the first leg. There were two. And to the annoyance of Borussia, they fell according to the same pattern. They had expected a lot of problems against Manchester, but not necessarily of being defeated after having crossed in the air in their own penalty area. But that’s exactly where City caught the Gladbachers twice. In each case, João Cancelo crossed from the left of the half-field onto the second post. First Bernardo Silva headed in there himself (29th minute), then the Portuguese dropped again, and Gabriel Jesus completed the attack for the final score (65th).
Coach Marco Rose also recognized the duplicity of events. “We conceded two goals that were almost identical.” He also recognized the class of the opponent, who is moving to Borussia Dortmund next season: “This is an absolute top team that we had to play and fight. We defended relatively well and didn’t allow that much. But it’s incredibly difficult. Everything has to be right against this team. ”It didn’t. “We are far from serving in any form. We want to show a good game there and do it better. “
Will Guardiola be annoyed with the “German style”? Wait. Christoph Kramer tried to give himself and his family a little courage before the second leg, of which it is still unclear whether it can take place in Manchester or whether it will be relocated again. “Anything is possible in football. We have nothing more to lose and should play that way. ”If Gladbach falls out, as expected, at least Rose has something to look forward to on the program. Guardiola invited him for a glass of wine after the game. “I assume he’ll provide a good vial,” said Rose.
source https://pledgetimes.com/mancity-defeated-gladbach-guardiola-and-the-fear-of-the-german-style/
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