REVEALED!!! How Manchester City Turned Real Madrid’s Strengths To Huge weaknesses To Reach UEFA Champion League Final—-According to the report from fourfourtwo, Manchester City comfortably reached the Champions League final with a thoroughly convincing and dominant 4-0 win against Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final, and there were some discernible tactics on display from Pep Guardiola’s side.
In the first leg, some of Real Madrid’s best moments came through Eduardo Camavinga from left-back – his driving run helped set up Vinicius Jr.’s stunning strike, while his relentless pressing ensured City’s players were unable to gain a foothold in the game.
However, naturally a central midfielder by trade, and still only 20-years-old, Pep Guardiola identified Camavinga as the player to exploit in the second leg.
The Frenchman’s enthusiasm for pressurising Bernardo Silva on the right-wing, and subsequently anyone else within a 10-yard radius, freed up opportunities in the half-spaces on the pitch, which FFT’s Adam Clery describes in greater detail in the video above.
The first goal epitomises this, with Camavinga running out to close down Kyle Walker, assuming Toni Kroos and Luka Modric had picked up Silva’s run behind.
Except, they hadn’t, allowing Kevin De Bruyne a relatively simple pass straight into Silva’s feet in the box, with the Portuguese comfortably slotting home for the first goal.
Guardiola had clearly told Silva to stay as wide as possible, too, encouraging his players to maintain possession on the left side for as long as possible before switching it quickly to Silva. Inevitably this exposed Camavinga, whose defensive fragilities became apparent when runs from Walker, De Bruyne and even John Stones bombarded him..
Manchester City face Inter Milan in the Champions League final on June 10, and expect Pep to develop some more interesting tactics to try and bypass the Nerazzuri’s resolute defence