Man City 1-0 Atletico Madrid (De Bruyne 70′)
You know how it goes. You spend three-quarters of the match huffing and puffing to no avail, at which point you bring on the most outrageously technical young midfielder your country has produced in a generation. A minute later, Phil Foden has danced around a player and slipped the ball between two more to assist a tie-changing goal. There are worse Plan Bs. There are clubs who would kill to have them as Plan A every week.
For most of Tuesday evening, Pep Guardiola pointed and screamed like a frazzled conductor in charge of four different orchestras as Manchester City struggled to break down a comedically defensive Atletico Madrid, albeit one that did flicker on the counter attack after the break. He will still be frustrated that near total dominance has not put his team closer to the semi-finals with three more titanic matches to come over the next 10 days. It could have been better; could have been worse, too.
Guardiola knows how this can happen against this manager. His reputation for overthinking in the Champions League was arguably established when his Bayern Munich side were eliminated on away goals by Atleti in 2016. Bayern had 33 shots and 73 per cent of the ball in the second leg and went out. He and Diego Simeone are presented as footballing opposites, something Guardiola dismisses. They stalked the touchline in identical outfits: shiny black shoes, smart trousers and knee-length black puffer jackets, like two bouncers for a high-end Monte Carlo nightclub on New Year’s Eve.
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It also occasionally gets vaguely unpleasant. We’d all agree that variety is to be celebrated, but after the fourth time an Atleti player has rolled onto the floor only to magically become revitalised when they fail to get the free-kick, or pleaded their innocence after a foul, or feigned misinterpreting where a set-piece should be taken from, it does begin to grate.
Player ratings
By Oliver Young-Myles
Man City (4-3-3)
- Ederson – 6
- Cancelo – 7
- Stones – 7
- Laporte – 7
- Ake – 7
- De Bruyne – 8
- Rodri – 7
- Gundogan – 6
- Mahrez – 6
- Sterling – 6
- Silva – 5
Subs:
- Grealish – 7
- Foden – 8
- Jesus – 6
Atletico Madrid (5-3-2)
- Oblak – 7
- Vrsaljko – 6
- Savic – 7
- Felipe – 7
- Reinildo – 7
- Lodi – 6
- Llorente – 6
- Kondogbia – 7
- Koke – 7
- Felix – 6
- Griezmann – 6
Subs:
- Correa – 6
- Cunha – 6
- De Paul – 6
- Lemar – 6
Atletico have been playing this way since Joao Felix was in nappies – they need no extra motivation. But UEFA have provided it anyway. Whatever you think about the abolition of the away goals rule, it has made a 0-0 draw in the first leg away from home better than it was before because you will not be eliminated by drawing at home. Why should Simeone risk leaving his defence exposed in search of a goal that counts for less than it used to?
If City were complicit in that struggle, it was through failing to move the ball quicker through midfield and repeatedly wasting crosses by hitting the first or second man at barely above head height. Riyad Mahrez was particularly guilty; it was officially he who was removed for Foden as part of a triple substitution.
Foden’s greatest effect – and he did it immediately – was to shift how the game played tricks on the mind. For the first hour, Atleti appeared to have extra players on the pitch: five defenders, five midfielders, two attackers dashing forward and at least two more complaining to the referee. Foden’s introduction, and the way he dips into pockets of space to pick up the ball, has the same quality.
There is a courage to Atletico’s one-dimensional defensive dourness. The assumption is that it will eventually fall flat on its face, undone by one lapse in concentration, one moment of magic, one sloppy touch, at which point everyone will call you a fool for believing you could resist this City attack. When it doesn’t, Simeone is right to celebrate because he has staked his reputation on its success.
And when it does fail, and all the s___housery, headed clearances and extra rolls on the ground for effect end in nothing but a first-leg deficit and work to do next week, you are left wondering if they could be a little…more. Simeone will back his team to change the mood on a feverish night in Madrid next week, but it takes some believing. There is no worse side in Europe to fall behind against, whether that’s over one leg or two.
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