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Pep Guardiola celebrated taking over Manchester City on Tuesday with his 100th Champions League victory, but Bayer Leverkusen and their supporters were the ones who were dancing all the way.
With their delayed arrival in England, the Bundesliga side had anticipated a difficult evening, but Guardiola was left speechless after the game’s memorable 2-0 victory.
This was yet another low, according to the Spaniard in a pre-game press conference on Monday that there had been “more disappointments than good moments” for both himself and City in the elite club competition in Europe.
Guardiola made ten changes to the side that lost to Newcastle on Saturday, and the decision backfired spectacularly. The defeat was self-inflicted.
Guardiola acknowledged any criticisms of the number of changes and said, “I have to accept it.” “I have to accept that maybe it’s a lot,” I said, “because winning wouldn’t be a problem.”
The Spaniard continued, “I always believed that everyone had to be active during the long season, but maybe it was too much.” Instead of acting as we needed to, they played to avoid making mistakes.
We didn’t believe the performance was good. I assume full accountability. Something was missed. We had a fantastic opportunity, and we must now compete in the upcoming games.
I’ve always been overly nice, I guess.
The Leverkusen team’s arrival in Manchester was delayed by a luggage issue in Germany, which required the plane’s departure gate on Monday afternoon.
One senior Bayer Leverkusen employee was ” shocked,” telling BBC Sport they had made sure preparations for the contest but were not expecting that particular line-up. City’s glut of alterations on matchday later left him with his own words.
With six players from the under-19 side named on the bench, Edmond Tapsoba, Lucas Vazquez, ex-real Madrid player Lucas Vazquez, and Argentine duo Exequiel Palacios and Equi Fernandez, another staff member pointed to key players’ absence as a sign that they might struggle in the game.
In the opening period, City had three stars in the game, including Erling Haaland, Phil Foden, and Rayan Cherki, who were all substitutes, but when they were later called in, they were ultimately unable to put on a rescue show in the second half.
Savinho and Oscar Bobb were both on the verge of the game, but Omar Marmoush tried to rouse a home crowd, who were frequently as flat as the team.
The changes caused City to be slow, cumbersome, and disjointed, which could lead to a troubling defeat for them in the competition. They now face Real Madrid, a rival team from Europe, on December 10th, under pressure to produce some sort of result.
They made an effort to perform, but Guardiola remarked that when you are in a big team, you must show off. Everyone was the same, [including] the bench players. They slipped ten times as a result of every shot being blocked.
“With the players who have played frequently lately, perhaps we would have had confidence.” I’ve always liked to be overly kind and involve everyone because I believe there should be games every three or four days, with no one else able to support that.
After Sir Alex Ferguson and Arsene Wenger, Guardiola was the third manager to manage 100 or more English teams to win the Champions League, but the historic moment was one to remember.
Many people will say, “Why didn’t you play a stronger team?” Michael Brown, a former City player, was posed for the BBC on BBC Radio 5 Live. People will say, “Win the game and then make the changes.”
It almost seemed like it was going to be routine, but what it did with those changes was really give that side a huge boost. With all those players sat on the bench, you would think we have a good chance if you were walking on the pitch and looking across. That gave them reason to believe.
Leverkusen’s “A night to remember”
Leverkusen won in a surprise surprise thanks to skipper Alejandro Grimaldo’s rasping strike and Patrik Schick’s towering second-half header.
The traveling supporters and players jointly celebrated their famous victory at the end, led by the drummer and fan, who was also armed with a microphone.
Danish boss Hjulmand expressed his delight at both the victory and the character we displayed. This is a time to remember and a source of inspiration for our growth.
We played with a lot of courage and poise on the ball, and we did very well. A very good keeper and some luck were needed at times.
You can’t expect anything less from City than three points, according to the statement.
Former Liverpool defender Jarell Quansah remarked, “It’s unbelievable because we had a lot of senior players who were not here tonight.”
related subjects
- Manchester City
- UEFA Champions League
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