Pep Guardiola's Champions League blunders, from the "biggest f*** up" to the De Bruyne disaster
Manchester City are heavy favorites to win their first Champions League title against Inter Milan tomorrow, as manager Pep Guardiola attempts to correct more than a decade of terrible luck, stupid judgments, and weird tinkering.
Pep Guardiola last won the Champions League twelve agonizing years ago.
But, while one of the game's most influential managers prepares for a fifth final in the most important club championship, Manchester City is also aiming to become the second English team to complete the triple, following neighbours United in 1999.
The stakes couldn't be higher against an underdog Inter Milan. But how will the title of heavy favourites affect City and their manager?
Guardiola has long recognized that delivering City's first Champions League will define his tenure at the club. "If we don't win, I'll be judged... I'm going to fail here. "I'm aware of that," he stated in 2020. Three seasons later, the sentiment is even stronger.
Guardiola's overthinking and fiddling in important moments has snowballed into a narrative - he wants it too much - but there has also been poor luck and the plain reality that his teams have met an opponent who performed at a better level.
Here is a year-by-year examination of where the Catalan has gone wrong since the amazing Barcelona squad crushed Manchester United at Wembley in May 2011.
Semi-finals of the 2011-12 season
It was smooth sailing all the way to the last four for those looking to retain the crown. Then, under interim manager Roberto di Matteo, Chelsea dug deep to win the opening leg 1-0 at Stamford Bridge. Sergio Busquets and Andres Iniesta made it 2-1 to Barcelona at Camp Nou until Ramires scored in first-half added time to give Chelsea an away-goal lead, then Fernando Torres got Gary Neville to make some weird noises on commentary with his extra time breakaway goal.
Bayern Munich semi-finals 2013-14
Guardiola won four trophies in his first season at Bayern, including the Champions League, after taking a year off to play chess with Garry Kasparov in New York. After cruising through a group that included City, the German powerhouse defeated Arsenal and Manchester United on their way to the last four. But Real Madrid were on top form, winning the first encounter 1-0 at the Bernabeu before crushing Bayern 4-0 in Bavaria. Guardiola accepted the blame, having made a last-minute choice to employ a 4-2-3-1 instead of a 4-3-3, only to change his mind again and deploy a 4-2-4 that was ripped apart. "I got it wrong, man," he says.
Semi-finals of the 2014-15 season
The pattern persists. Bayern won a group in which City finished second, scoring seven goals in two legs against Shakhtar Donetsk and Porto to set up a meeting with Barcelona. Bayern was missing Robben and Franck Ribery for the first leg at Camp Nou, so they set out to frustrate and man mark their hosts. "Pep Guardiola's gone and shocked us all," Neville said on the sidelines. Despite this, they did a half-decent job for 77 minutes before Lionel Messi scored twice in three minutes and Neymar added a third in added time, while the Bavarians failed to produce a single shot on goal. Humbled but unyielding in the face of defeat,
Semi-finals are scheduled for 2021-22.
Another semi-final against Real Madrid, with the late collapse to end all late collapses. The first leg in Manchester was a barnstormer that City won 4-3, and if it hadn't been for the brilliance of Ballon d'Or winner Karim Benzema, City would have been out of sight traveling to Spain for the second leg. Nonetheless, City maintained some control at the Bernabeu before Riyad Mahrez appeared to have scored the game-winning goal. City lead 5-3 in the 90th minute, and it could have been more if Jack Grealish had not been denied twice. But Rodrygo scored twice in as many minutes to force extra time, and Karim Benzema struck from the penalty spot to seal the victory.
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