Will Pep Guardiola get his hands on the C1, 12 years later? Quite possible with the level of City this season. Nonetheless, the Citizens looked just as strong in 2021 before losing to Chelsea. Two years later, a player should help them change the situation.
For many observers, he has been the best coach in the world for 10 years. Pep Guardiola offers the strongest content in Europe on a collective level year after year. Arrived in 2016, he made Manchester City an almost unbeatable machine in the Premier League, having won five of the seven league titles under his command. But, the Spanish technician is still struggling to bring back the only trophy missing from the Citizens: the Champions League. City are getting tougher and tougher but almost always fail when you least expect it. In 2019, it was against Tottenham in the quarters. In 2020, against OL also in the quarters. But, nothing tops the disappointment of 2021.
Guardiola has his striker, Inter can shake
For his first C1 final and when he was favorite, Manchester City had come up against Chelsea 1-0 to everyone’s surprise. A failure that remains in the minds, especially in that of Pep Guardiola. The Spanish technician is under pressure, having taken tactical risks on previous eliminations and having never been able to win the C1 outside of Barça. This year, that has to change. In a press conference, he did not deny the importance of Messi in his past successes. And, what better than Erling Haaland to win. If Guardiola shows collective strength, he knows more than anyone that his star is essential for him to win on Saturday.
🗣 “Have good players. Have Messi in the past, have Haaland now. This is my success.” 😂
Pep Guardiola with some advice to aspiring young managers pic.twitter.com/WtO7zWLEnh
— Football Daily (@footballdaily) June 9, 2023
“ The keys to my success? Have good players. Having Messi in the past, Haaland now. I’m not kidding, huh! It’s the truth. Make sure they don’t think that they can do it alone, because that’s not possible, but that as a team, we can be very, very strong. That the players who will follow my ideas will be there, the others will not. But like any manager who has had success in the past and who will have success in the future, it is because he will have a very strong institution behind him. Very strong institutions usually have extraordinary players, so… For the simple reason that a coach has never scored a goal. Never “, he dropped with a touch of irony. Every good plan needs the right men. So brilliant tactically since the beginning of his career, Guardiola readily acknowledges this last aspect now. It’s up to him to remember that and deliver the best possible team composition in the final.
