Champions League: Guardiola and the weakness of ManCity

Manchester City have not liked his recent supporting role at all. During the Liverpool FC celebrated with a pompous Show, winning the English championship, the price of clinging to the team of coach Pep Guardiola bedröppelt at your consolation: the League Cup in March, won just before the game in England because of the Coronavirus has been interrupted for a pandemic. Out of the FA Cup, the more important the Cup competition, knocked out City in the semi-finals. It would remain in addition to the unsatisfactory second place in the League at this puny yield, that would be a clear step backwards for the club that won last year as the first ever domestic treble of League championship and two cups.

but It could turn out quite differently. Because if Manchester City win the Champions League, which will resume this Friday after a long interruption, then probably no one would ask for the lost the race for the championship – not even City's owners. Sheikh Mansour of Abu Dhabi sought after a Triumph in Europe's magnificent new club competition like nothing else. More than to the semi-finals the City has made it is there has never been, in the past two years, respectively, in the quarter-finals was the end.

to creators but This Time you count with Bayern Munich the favourites in the book. At the end of February the team won the first leg in the first knockout round Real Madrid 2:1. The return match will take place on Friday evening in Manchester instead (21.00 in F. A. Z.-Liveticker zur Champions League and Sky) . After that, the Champions League will be played in tournament mode and knockout Play in Lisbon, in order to quickly get to the end.

gaps in the defense

This City in the last Premier League season revealed a weakness. They have lost nine of their 38-season games, three more than in the previous two master years. The Problem is not the defence, even if 35 goals against compared to the competitors excessive. Goalkeeper Ederson is one of the Best in his field, Central defender Aymeric Laporte, after his serious knee injury in a good way. However, John Stones and Nicolás Otamendi not act up to the high standards often.