Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, has given a breakdown of his tactical plan that did not work against Real Madrid.
Guardiola’s men were hammered 3-0 in their Champions League last-16 first leg, with Federico Valverde scoring a hat-trick in the first half.
After the game, the City boss hit out at critics who blamed him for making too many changes to his starting XI.
“The only adjustment was [Abdukodir] Khusanov because Vinicius moves in that area, and we wanted a guy who doesn’t think much to attack,” Guardiola said.
“The rest? (Wingers?) Yeah, injured two months, yeah. And they played incredible; Savinho in Newcastle, Jeremy [Doku] always is an incredible threat.
“And people with experience, Bernardo [Silva] and Rodri, runners with Nico [O’Reilly] and Antoine [Semenyo], the sense of goal that all of them have, set-pieces – that was the idea.
“Rotation? I’ve done it in Newcastle, nine players different. I understand what I’m saying; the target is wingers to try to drop them, people in the middle in pockets to arrive close to the box, control second structures with experienced players, fast players behind – that was the idea…”
UCL: Guardiola reveals his tactical plan against Real Madrid that didn’t work
