-
Pep Guardiola makes an unexpected remark regarding the final roster for the 2021 Champions League.
Pep Guardiola has stated that if given the opportunity, he would alter Manchester City’s starting eleven for the 2021 Champions League final loss against Chelsea.
Fernandinho and Rodri were both benched as City relied on Ilkay Gundogan as their lone holding midfielder, while Kevin De Bruyne was used as a false nine before sustaining a severe head injury.
Both Gabriel Jesus and Sergio Aguero came in as substitutes, but City couldn’t force an equalizer when Kai Havertz scored the game’s sole goal to give Chelsea their second Champions League title.
The Premier League and FA Cup winners, who destroyed Real Madrid and Bayern Munich in the knockout rounds en route to Istanbul’s championship game, will have the chance to erase that blemish off their record when they take on Inter on Saturday.
Guardiola acknowledges he would change his starting lineup if given the chance to repeat the event in Porto even if City is the clear favourite, just like they were two years ago.
He said: “It was a gameplan like it will be on Saturday. If I tell you privately the reason why I took the decision in that moment you could say it was right but it is simple; if I lose, I am wrong, if I win I am right. You have to accept that in this business.
“It was a tight game and in many things we were better than them but we lost. Would I do something different now? Maybe, but that doesn’t count.”
When asked if the mood around the City camp is different this time around, he added: “One week ago we won the FA Cup. In that moment we were just preparing a final, we’d lost two times against Thomas Tuchel’s Chelsea and had some doubts.
“It is not the same but they play five in the back, Chelsea and Inter, the approach was defensive too but of course Chelsea also had incredibly good patterns to punish us. It is not similar but there are some things. Hopefully we can attack a little bit better.”