Soccer tipster Is Pep thinking too much about problems?
Eight years ago Pepe was kicked out and Lionel Messi scored two goals - one of them brilliant, and Barcelona would be Real Madrid in a Champions League semi-final match. It was a straightforward apocalyptic night, the climax of that proverbial four-Classic series in 17 days (though a rematch to come) that set off Jose Mourinho`s first season in Spain.
It came after Josep Guardiola finally failed and burst out as a result of the constant irritation on the part of the Portuguese -;a moment that his players thought was a waste of steam. This victory was draining, euphoric, and yet at the cost of it, Guardiola might never be the same again. Eight years later, he continues to have no other victory as a guest in the quarterfinals or semifinals of the Champions League.
By definition, the excerpts from the final via
today soccer predictions stages of major football tournaments are small, but this looks like more than just a black spot in Catalan`s brilliant CV. Because the defeat of Manchester City against Tottenham Hotspur (1:0) was the 10th consecutive away game without a win for Guardiola in the quarterfinals or semi-finals of the most respected European club tournament.
A leaf inspection reveals a wide range of rivals. Draws for example against Milan with Barca in 2012 or against Manchester United with Bayern (Munich) in 2014 can be considered good results. At first, no one was alarmed by the 1-0 defeat at Chelsea and Real Madrid in the next two rounds of the same two seasons, but recently the results have become increasingly difficult to explain. With Bayern there was a 3-1 loss to Porto in the quarterfinals of 2014/15 (defeated liability in the rematch) and quite nervous 2:2 away to Benfica in the quarterfinals of 2015/16 after a minimal win of 1-0 in the Bavarian capital. Nobody can forget the 3-0 wreck on Barcelona`s Bayern Munich (2014/15) and Liverpool`s City (last spring in a red storm in the first half of Anfield).
There is some risk of oversimplifying things. Of course, the performance of each team in the late stages of the World Cup deteriorates, once there is a place to meet the toughest rivals. However, there is one recurring, perhaps even self-provoking, tendency for Guardiola to over-think in these away games, to pick out unproven tactics and elevens, and to bear the consequences. One of his strengths as a coach is the detailed exploration of every match and rival, but this, combined with his desperate ambition to win the Champions League without Lionel Messi himself, paradoxically prepares the ground for his failure.
In 2015, Guardiola sent Bayern players to press Camp Nou Barca;a shocking tactic that had to be abandoned by the 20th minute. The score at the time was 0-0, but the fatigue accumulated in that tumultuous start contributed to the Catalans` three late goals. Last season at Anfield, however, the general confusion came from moving Ilkay Gundogan to a back position.
In the visit against Tottenham, the problems were not at all as acute as in the cases above.
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