Pep Guardiola had his joke about his “stupid” tactics in Europe this week - but it was a good old-fashioned triple substitution that gave Manchester City the edge in their Champions League quarter-final. Against an Atletico Madrid side who, predictably, combined defensive solidity with extreme gamesmanship, physicality and time-wasting skulduggery, it was Phil Foden who stepped off the bench to make the difference and provide Kevin De Bruyne with the only goal.
Until he, Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus trotted onto the field, Atletico had been reasonably comfortable as City huffed and puffed their way around the final third without seriously testing keeper Jan Oblak. Guardiola has added his voice to the campaign for more substitutions in the Premier League - and it was successful, with news this week that five will be allowed next season.
Oddly, Guardiola rarely uses his full complement from the bench, but with this game goalless he did so with dramatic effect. The dynamic of the game changed drastically within seconds of the three pairs of fresh legs entering the pitch. Grealish drew a yellow card from Rodrigo De Paul after Atletico had managed to tread a fine line between the foul and the fair - and his ability to win free-kicks gave the visitors a taste of their own gamesmanship.
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Foden’s impact was even more effective. In his first real involvement, he picked out De Bruyne’s run down the side of the defence, and the Belgian expertly picked out the far corner. In normal circumstances, it would be a slender lead to take away to the Wanda Metropolitano in eight days, but Atletico will have to be more adventurous, and that will suit City just fine.
Guardiola denied that this would be a clash of styles, his team’s possession-based, attacking bent against Atletico’s ultra-defensive streak. The City boss said on the eve of the game that this was an over-simplification and talked of the Spanish club’s ability to attack.
Diego Simeone, however, was more than happy to stick to the script - in the first half his team had just 27 per cent of possession. And when they did get the ball, they seemed happy enough to lump it long, and watch City’s big back-line eat up the headers, while his defence got themselves back into that seemingly impenetrable shape.
Guardiola had laughed off the idea that he sometimes over-thinks big games, and had joked that his tactical innovation for this one would be to field 12 players. In a tight first half when City struggled to find an extra man, no matter what they tried, sneaking an extra one on might have been useful. The Blues lined up with Bernardo Silva and Kevin De Bruyne occupying the “false nine” roles, perhaps relying on the fact that Atletico would be prepared to simply sit and defend.
But the visitors dealt well with that, their centre backs disciplined in not being drawn out of position, and their midfield trio not so much squeezing the space in front of the penalty area as crushing the air out of it. And with the full-backs pushing tight on City wide men Raheem Sterling and Riyad Mahrez, it was just as difficult to get round the sides.
Joao Cancelo and John Stones both ventured into midfield to provide an extra body, but Atletico simply kept their shape and with Jan Oblak a considerable presence behind them, they were happy enough when the Blues occasionally gave into the tempting encouragement of the City fans to “Shooooot!” whenever they got within range. Half-hearted penalty shouts as Bernardo and De Bruyne went down in the box were as close as the Blues got to breaking the first-half deadlock. No room to pass or cross, no room to shoot, and little time to think - it was a defensive masterclass from the Spaniards.
They were simply waiting for a mistake, and when City coughed one up early in the second half, as two players left the ball to each other ten yards outside the Atletico box, the visitors were off, with Antoine Griezmann haring away. With Ilkay Gundogan the only player close enough to catch him, City fans held their breath. But the German did a great job, getting close enough to force him to pass - and pass badly, straight out of play.
City continued to exert the pressure, at times standing outside the box, nonplussed about what to try next. A rehearsed setpiece flopped as De Bruyne’s short pass to Gundoga and lay-off for Mahrez was snuffed out by Renan Lodi’s wild lunge - that gave City another free kick just outside the box and this time Oblak blocked De Bruyne’s low shot and kicked away the loose ball before anyone could pounce on it.
Guardiola threw three dice at one on 68 minutes, replacing Mahrez, Sterling and Gundogan with Phil Foden, Jack Grealish and Gabriel Jesus. It provided an instant change, with Grealish drawing a yellow card challenge from Rodrigo De Paul with his first touch. Foden’s first involvement was even more telling, as he paused on the ball, drawing defenders like flies, and slid the kind of pass City had been lacking, precise and weighted for De Bruyne’s run.
The Belgian slid his shot from an angle beyond Oblak’s big frame, and the Blues had the breakthrough. Foden had changed the whole picture, playing wide on the right, and another link-up with De Bruyne almost brought a City second.
They pushed on until the end and controlled any further Atletico counters. Unless the Spaniards can conjure something much better on the front foot next week, De Bruyne's goal should be enough.
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