Pep Guardiola has sarcastically responded to criticism that he can overthink tactics in the Champions League - promising to start 12 players in Manchester City ’s quarter final with Atletico Madrid.
City host Diego Simeone’s side as they look to finally end their wait for Europe’s biggest prize, 11 years on from first qualifying for the tournament. A number of those near-misses have come under the stewardship of Guardiola, most notably the defeat to Chelsea in Porto last season.
The Premier League champions went into that encounter as the favourites to lift the trophy, but were undone by a tactical masterclass from Thomas Tuchel. Guardiola was questioned in the aftermath of the defeat, after deciding to drop both Fernandinho and Rodri from the starting XI.
It was a risk which ultimately backfired as Kai Havertz goal separated the two powerhouses and the idea that he can tweak too much was raised in the build-up to another huge Champions League night. But in a spiky press conference, Guardiola promised to draw “inspiration” from above and come up with more “stupid tactics”.
“In the Champions League, I always overthink. Always create new tactics and new ideas and tomorrow we’ll see a new one,” Guardiola joked. “I overthink a lot…absolutely. That’s why I’ve had very good results in the Champions League.
“My job would be boring if we always played the same way against opponents who play in different ways. So if the people can believe that I’m going to approach playing Atletico Madrid and Liverpool the same, I don’t think about that. The movements from Liverpool are completely different from Atletico Madrid.
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“Especially because the players are different. Every player has a mother and a father and every mother and father have different types of personalities and different types of players. I have to adapt and adjust, that’s why I love to overthink and create stupid tactics again. Tonight I will take inspiration and I’m going to do incredible tactics, we will play with 12 tomorrow.”
Guardiola also hit back at claims that the tie represented a clash of styles, one being the pure football his Man City side play, vs the more pragmatic approach taken by his adversary Simeone.
“I’m not going to talk for one second about this stupid debate,” he responded. “Everyone tries to win the game and if they win, they will be right and if we win, we’ll be right. In one game and in one style there are many different things.
“After watching Atletico Madrid there’s a wrong conception about how he plays, it’s more offensive than people could believe,” he added. “He doesn’t want to take a risk in the build-up, but after they have quality to play and play very well in the final third.
“When the ball is in our half…I’m not going to name the quality of the players they have and how competitive they are. Depending on the position of the ball, the moment of the game, they know how to play this exact moment.”
