Duscher’s analysis: a deeper and more direct city, given Madrid’s speed and inspiration

Manchester City in the duel against Real Madrid, already consolidated for the title of English champion and FA Cup finalist, comes with a coach who has been working with the same idea for years, but this year he added interesting variants.

From a style characterized by possession play and mastering the rhythm of the game, now with the presence of footballers like Haaland it adds more depth to attacks and, mostly, allows him to gain finishing abilities. The current City is a more direct team than in previous years, does not lateralize as much, and mostly has offensive variants due to the presence of strikers of his characteristics.

Added to that are quality footballers like Gündogan, De Bruyne, Rodri and performances in the second half. Julian Alvarez, Used to playing important matches and that in these 180 minutes he can be crucial.

But, thanks to Guardiola, Haaland is not a typical finisher in the area, he provides mobility and does not control, thereby allowing the midfielders to find spaces, thus further improving the positional play that characterizes City. Scheme 3-2-4-1 that the Spanish coach proposes will face a big test against the speed and balls into space that footballers like Kroos and Modric can direct towards Rodrygo and Vinicius.

MATCH PLAN

More penetrating City and Madrid with few moments of ball possession

I expect a deeper City than last season’s game, still in possession but trying to do damage and be deep to find the connection with Haaland. As for Real Madrid, I don’t think they have many moments in possession, and I see them waiting more for the moment to hurt the opponent. In this sense, the tie becomes a great test of the level of Vinicius and Rodrygo, as well as the tactical adjustments that Guardiola introduced to finally win the European Cup from the team’s ranks citizen. Madrid’s tricks are to control City, suppress their circles of play and exploit the individual quality of their attacking players.

HISTORY OF TECHNICIANS

Guardiola won 6 of his 9 duels with Ancelotti

However, it should be clarified that most of those clashes took place with Guardiola at the helm of City, while the Italian led a weaker Everton. Nine straight matches in which, interestingly, there were no draws.