In the Champions League on Tuesday, Pep Guardiola’s selection choice flopped as Manchester City fell to Bayer Leverkusen with a shock 2-0 defeat.
Erling Haaland, Ruben Dias, Bernardo Silva, and Gianluigi Donnarumma were all cut out of the starting lineup, despite Guardiola’s surprise resting of the majority of his stars at the Etihad Stadium.
Leverkusen capitalized on Guardiola’s understudy’s poor performance in the first half when Alex Grimaldo gave the Germans the lead before Patrik Schick netted after the break to stoke unsatisfaction from City fans at the final whistle.
City were defeated at home in the Champions League prior to the knockout stages for the first time in 24 games dating back in 2018.
After falling to Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday with a score of 2-1, City suffered a second straight defeat.
This season, City are now seven points clear of Arsenal’s leaders after losing four of their matches in the Premier League.
Guardiola’s team’s first Champions League defeat in five games should not have helped them advance to the last 16, but they will have learned from the fact that Guardiola’s reserves aren’t quite as formidable as he would have liked.
Guardiola’s 100th Champions League game as City boss was a weary squib, in stark contrast to the previous 99, which included 62 victories and the club’s first European crown in 2023.
After the contentious defeat at Newcastle, Guardiola claimed that he was “embarrassed and ashamed” after the cameraman’s on-screen altercation.
After this shoddy surrender, his players should be punished in the same way.
For the previous three games, Guardiola had chosen the same lineup, but with ten changes, that unusually consistent selection policy was voided.
Guardiola’s decision may have been influenced by the fact that City will play two games per week for the majority of December, including a trip to Real Madrid for their upcoming Champions League game.
City flaws
When the defender took Oscar Bobb’s pass from a half-cleared corner and fired a close-range effort that was forced to tip over Mark Flekken, it almost gave City the lead after five minutes.
However, City lacked a killer instinct and paid for a poor piece of defending in the 23rd minute despite having the upper hand.
Grimaldo finished with a flourish as he lashed a low drive past James Trafford from 12 yards, but Malik Tillman and Christian Kofane had more time and space to play.
Guardiola appeared particularly irritated by Abdukodir Khusanov’s leaden-footed attempt to close down Grimaldo before the goal, who rubbed his head in frustration on the touchline.
City had lost to City for the first time this season in the Champions League, and the result was unfavorable.
Omar Marmoush struggled to make up for Haaland, but Bobb nearly won the match with a deflected cross that Flekken blocked with his leg.
On the eve of half-time, Tijjani Reijnders should have brought City level, but after bursting into the area, he fired straight at Flekken.
At the interval, Guardiola sent Jeremy Doku, Phil Foden, and Nico O’Reilly on.
A long-range strike that tested Flekken threatened an immediate impact from O’Reilly.
However, in the 54th minute, City’s weaknesses in their revamped defense were once more exposed.
Schick stubbed his way across the culpable Ake and curled an inswinging cross into the far corner.
After Marmoush’s valiant appeal for a penalty, Guardiola finally introduced Haaland after Marmoush failed to convert a good chance to reduce the deficit.
However, after missing a number of important chances in Newcastle, Haaland again drew a blank and fluffed his lines with a poor finishing that gave Flekken the opportunity to save when he should have.
Source: Channels TV
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