Pep Guardiola’s gamble pays off as Manchester City keep dream alive

By Henry Winter

This was the famous night for Manchester City when they took it to Real Madrid and stuck it to Uefa. The banned played on and played a brand of tactically sophisticated football that confirmed Pep Guardiola’s remarkable ability to innovate and inspire.

The Pep playbook is a work of pioneering par excellence. City were fluid and fast. They were constantly shooting, managing 16 attempts on goal, eight on target. They were deservedly victorious.

City may have fallen out with Uefa, and are fighting their two-season suspension from European football through the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), but they are falling in love with the Champions League. The passion for the trophy beats strongest within Guardiola — who won it twice with Barcelona, guaranteeing him a toxic reception here — and he craves a third.

He devised a game plan that completely outfoxed Zinédine Zidane’s men. Sergio Agüero, Fernandinho, Raheem Sterling and David Silva began on the bench despite being expected to start. Such was the surprise at Guardiola’s selection that City fans could have been forgiven for wanting the team-sheet taken to CAS to be overturned. Gabriel Jesus wide? No centre forward? Lesson: never doubt Guardiola. He had analysed Real, sought a plan to get at and behind their back four and set Raphaël Varane and Sergio Ramos a particular problem for a centre back: nobody to mark.

Jesus was on the left, even left back after 15 minutes but drifted in to promising effect, often having the beating of Dani Carvajal. Riyad Mahrez was wide right, frequently covering back to help Kyle Walker to deal with Ferland Mendy and Vinícius Júnior.

City’s main central attacking thrusts emanated from Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne, pressing and breaking from their forward midfield stations. Rodri and Ilkay Gündogan were behind De Bruyne and Bernardo, forming another barricade in Real’s way. But Guardiola’s influence was not simply in creating this masterplan, in setting his pieces in the right places on this chessboard of green but also in shaping their mood. He drew powerful performances from his players, made them believe in themselves and their strategy. Jesus and De Bruyne, City’s scorers, were particularly immense, working with a relentless intensity.

But it was arguably Sterling’s 17-minute cameo that turned the game, rising from the bench like a sharp stone from a catapult, aimed directly and devastatingly at Real’s defence, playing a part in both goals. Having been left on the bench for 69 minutes by Brendan Rodgers when Liverpool were beaten here in 2014, Sterling was even more desperate to have an impact, especially with his name being linked to a move to the Bernabéu. He came on and terrorised Carvajal.

Real’s right back had been a weak link throughout. After 20 minutes, De Bruyne released Jesus, who cut inside Carvajal but placed his shot at a good height for Thibaut Courtois to save.

That gave the 3,000 City fans up in the Gods some hope. They even broke off from their vocal evisceration of Uefa to sing Guardiola’s name. On a night of many subplots — Zidane versus Guardiola, Jesus versus Carvajal — a major theme was City versus Uefa. It was inescapable.

“F*** Uefa” reverberated from the top tier behind Ederson’s first-half goalmouth, the message heard all around the Bernabéu, as City fans intended. They object to what they perceive as the establishment’s attempt to limit their spending, to keep oil-rich states and sugar daddies from shaking up the status quo. The visiting fans were certainly in mischievous, defiant mood, singing: “City going down with a billion in the bank”.

In discussions outside the ground, City fans pointed to the Glazers taking money out of Manchester United rather than putting in money to their club as their owners do. They want other clubs, such as Paris Saint-Germain, pursued with similar vigour to the way that Uefa has gone after their own; fair’s fair, if financial fair play is to work. Fair enough.

But for all the invective aimed at them, and Uefa officials cannot have missed the tirade from the away fans last night, Uefa cannot afford to lose this battle with the Etihad. The response from the wise heads at CAS could shape the new order of Europe.

Guardiola insisted afterwards that the dynamic of the tie was not affected by the Uefa case. Isco and Karim Benzema were enough to occupy any mind. Stymied in the centre, Real went wide just before the half-hour, Ferland Mendy hoisting in a high cross from the left that fell towards Nicolás Otamendi and Aymeric Laporte.

Benzema, reaching a century of Champions League appearances, was too quick and strong for them, leaping and steering a header that demanded the most athletic of saves from Ederson. Vinícius was first to the loose ball but unable to turn it in.

Laporte sustained an injury during the attack, with Guardiola indicating afterwards that he had aggravated a problem with his recently healed knee, which is desperate news. Fernandinho came on and City remained untroubled for the rest of the half and almost seized the lead. When Courtois flapped at De Bruyne’s corner, Jesus’s volley was blocked by Ramos, whose clearance almost went in but for Casemiro’s intervention.

City began the second period with similar confidence. Mahrez twice went close but that ultimate sin in Guardiola’s playbook, losing possession, briefly cost his side on the hour. Rodri and Otamendi were trying to control the situation but lost the ball to Luka Modric, Kyle Walker then gifted possession to Real and Vinícius countered before placing the ball across for Isco to score.

Real fans sat back and expected total onslaught but their team sat back and paid the price. City stayed strong and went for Real. Sterling replaced Bernardo and within five minutes ran on to Rodri’s pass, holding the ball up before playing it back, inviting De Bruyne to run into the box. The Belgian crossed, Real’s defence froze and Jesus brushed Ramos out of the way and headed in.

Sterling’s pace was too much and when Carvajal slid in six minutes later, Sterling crumbled to the turf, leaving referee Daniele Orsato little option but to point to the spot. De Bruyne duly sent Courtois the wrong way. Real’s hopes for the second leg were hurt further when Ramos was sent off for fouling Jesus and thus banned for the Etihad leg. But the City banned play on.

This article originally appeared in The Times; Photo: David Ramos/Getty Images