With a balancing act that sees Manchester City host Atletico Madrid on Tuesday for the first leg of the Champions League quarterfinal before a crucial Sunday date at home against Liverpool in a match that could decide the Premier League title, Pep Guardiola will need to have his squad more focused than ever.
Guardiola has made mistakes at this stage of the tournament before. Rolling out a 3-4-3 trying to match Lyon after City’s base formation worked so well in 2020 resulted in a 3-1 defeat to crash out of the tournament. Overthinking was something that Guardiola acknowledged in his pre-match press conference. “Always I overthink and create new tactical and ideas. And [Tuesday] you will see a new one.” When asked for clarification or if he was joking, Guardiola continued: “I always think a lot, and that’s why I’ve had very good results in Champions League.”
In contrast to a Diego Simeone side that you typically know what you get, Guardiola needs to ensure that his team doesn’t tactically self-sabotage as home favorites. This tournament has been a team effort for Atletico Madrid as they’ve struggled to score while being their typical stingy defensive selves, scoring and conceding nine goals in the competition thus far. But City’s attack has put the ball into the net 23 times, it’s on a different level than those that Atletico has played so far. And while Atleti’s defense has been good, it’s also allowed five goals in two games against Liverpool compared to allowing four goals in their other six matches. So they could struggle against top tier competitions.
Jan Oblak has been in good form ranking third in Champions League goals prevented with 3.1 and he’ll be busy to keep Atletico in the tie.
Craving even more coverage of the world’s game? Listen below and follow ¡Qué Golazo! A Daily CBS Soccer Podcast where we take you beyond the pitch and around the globe for commentary, previews, recaps and more.
Tuesday’s broadcast schedule
Wednesday’s broadcast schedule
How to watch and odds
- Date: Tuesday, Apr. 5 | Time: 3:00 p.m. ET
- Location: Etihad Stadium — Manchester, England
- TV: CBS | Live stream: Paramount+
- Odds: Manchester City -300; Draw +390; Atletico Madrid +950 (via Caesars Sportsbook)
Featured Game | Manchester City vs. Atlético Madrid
Team news
Manchester City: While City has close to a clean bill of health, Kyle Walker is suspended for the tie while Ruben Dias is still injured. This will likely see either Nathan Ake or Oleksandr Zinchenko come into the lineup. With all of his regular attackers available, Guardiola will need to figure out how to best balance the squad for this one.
Atletico Madrid: Diego Simeone will be without Yannick Carasco due to suspension and Jose Gimenez could miss out due to injury after being subbed off late versus Alaves. While the injury hasn’t been confirmed, it would be a big blow to Atletico if he misses out with Filipe likely filling in.
Prediction
Oblak keeps this one competitive but Manchester City eventually poke home a winner via Riyad Mahrez. Pick: Manchester City 1, Atletico Madrid 0
George is Digismak’s reported cum editor with 13 years of experience in Journalism