Champions League: “Virtuoso” and “magician” Guardiola before a historic triple

Champions League
“Virtuoso” and “magician” Guardiola in front of a historic triple

City coach Pep Guardiola applauded his players. photo

© Jon Super/AP/dpa

After Manchester City’s outstanding 4-0 win against Real Madrid, the media are full of praise for Pep Guardiola. In his seventh season with the Cityzens, the star coach could make history.

After the spectacular finals in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola didn’t immediately want to think about the historic triple chance. “Let me win the first two first,” said the Manchester City football coach after the furious 4-0 win over Real Madrid.

In the coming weeks, the 52-year-old can not only triumph in the premier class with the Premier League club, but also win the league and cup in England. “Of course we’re here now. Now the players can think about it and imagine it. We’re three games away from that,” said Guardiola.

Man City can already secure the Premier League trophy this weekend with a win against Chelsea, followed on June 3 by the cup final against Manchester United, the only treble winner from England so far. But the European final against Inter Milan on June 10 in Istanbul is of paramount importance to Guardiola’s team. After the disappointments of the past few years, the longing is greater than ever.

Gala against Real

After the outstanding performance against record winners Real, Guardiola revealed what had accumulated in him and his team after the semifinals last year. “I felt like we had a stomach ache for a year after what happened last season,” said Guardiola, who cheered the fans in the stands throughout the game and enthusiastically cheered every goal.

“We had to swallow poison, but in football and in sport you always get another chance,” said the city coach. “When we were drawn to Madrid, I said, ‘Yes, I want that.'” Led by the outstanding German captain Ilkay Gündogan, Man City capitalized on the opportunity in impressive fashion. “So PROUD of this team,” Gündogan wrote on social media after the game.

Real Madrid only had goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois to thank for the fact that the performance did not become a humiliation in the first half, when he made two great saves against Erling Haaland, among other things. Bernardo Silva’s brace (23rd minute, 37th) in the first round could not prevent Courtois either. Manuel Akanji (76′), whose goal was initially interpreted as an own goal by Real’s Éder Militão, made everything clear. Julián Álvarez (90+1) refined the sensational result.

media euphoric

When City failed in the second leg of the semi-finals last year by conceding three goals to Real from the 90th minute, critics accused Guardiola of overcoaching – as he did in the final defeat in 2021 against Thomas Tuchel’s FC Chelsea. Now the international media, football experts and commentators have hymns of praise for the “football virtuoso” Guardiola.

“It takes a magician to reduce Real Madrid to a pathetic collection of rag dolls,” wrote the Telegraph. “If anyone has any doubts about the genius of the team Guardiola has built, this otherworldly performance has probably dispelled them,” said BBC Sport. And the renowned Spanish football journalist Guillem Balague summed it up on Twitter: “In the history of this sport, few teams have reached such a level.”

In Spain, there was criticism of Kroos & Co. “To cry”, headlined the Madrid trade newspaper “AS” on page one. “Marca” wrote of “a spanking that hurts”. In the football talk show “Chiringuito de Jugones”, well-known journalists called for a “head roll”. Ancelotti has to go and you need replacements for aging professionals like Toni Kroos, Luka Modric and Karim Benzema.

Real coach stays

However, Ancelotti assured that he would remain Real coach. Club boss Florentino Pérez confirmed that. “The end of an era? We’ll see,” said Modric. Kroos thinks the same way. However, when asked if he would extend his expiring contract, Kroos replied: “It’s up to the club to decide.” The world champion of 2014 did not want to sugarcoat the bankruptcy. They were deservedly eliminated, he said and praised Man City: “If they play like they do today, they are currently the measure of all things.”

The fifth championship title under Pep Guardiola is almost certain. The Cityzens are favorites in the FA Cup final against local rivals Manchester United, as well as in the European final on June 10 in Istanbul. “We’ll try to win, we can’t say we’ll definitely win,” warned Guardiola, who lifted the pot twice as coach of FC Barcelona. But after the gala performance against Madrid, hardly anyone on the island doubts that these Cityzens on the Bosporus will crown themselves as Europe’s kings.

dpa

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