Chapter 222: Guardiola: Giving Manchester City a Little Bundesliga Shock!
On December 11th, at the Allianz Arena in Munich.
The match between Manchester City and Bayern had been going on for 12 minutes, with the score on the field being 2-0. The home team was leading, and the away team was trailing.
The situation was almost identical to the last encounter. Bayern exerted strong pressure on Manchester City from the beginning and managed to score.
However, this time Bayern scored even more goals, with two goals in their favor.
Muller and Goretzka scored for Bayern.
Seeing the score on the field, Bayern fans at the Allianz Arena erupted in excitement.
They had hoped for a win, but they hadn't expected their team to take such a big lead at the beginning.
Manchester City had not failed on any front this season yet. In their last encounter, the opponent even reversed and defeated them at home.
This made Bayern fans subconsciously think that this game might be very difficult. Even if they could win, they would have to pay a huge price and it would be a hard-fought victory.
But what they didn't expect was that within just over ten minutes, they had already taken such a big lead.
According to the Champions League qualification rules, when two teams have the same points and the same win-loss relationship, they will be ranked based on goal difference.
Among these, the goal difference from direct matches between the two teams takes precedence. If this is also the same, then the overall goal difference will be considered.
In the last round, Bayern lost to Manchester City with a score of 2-3, with only one goal behind.
This time, if they could beat Manchester City with a score of 2-0, then they would surpass Manchester City in terms of goal difference in their matches against each other.
Therefore, based on this score, Bayern would replace Manchester City and secure the first place in Group D.
Seeing this score, Bayern fans, who had doubts about Guardiola, all began to sing his praises.
The reporters present had already begun to draft their articles in their minds, thinking about how to praise Guardiola and the Bayern team under his management.
Being at the top of the league with an unbeaten record and advancing as the first in the Champions League group, such a record was even more impressive than the previous season.
Such achievements naturally deserved praise!
In the executive box of the Allianz Arena, Rummenigge, after seeing Goretzka's goal, also applauded with a smile.
"Guardiola has done a good job. The team's performance and stability have improved a lot compared to last season."
"If we defeat Manchester City and take first place in the group in this match, then in the knockout stage, we will have a favorable position, and advancing to the quarterfinals will be as easy as turning over our palms."
"Hehe, although Guardiola's coaching style is somewhat different from Heynckes, his coaching ability is unquestionable."
Hoeness, who was beside him, saw Rummenigge's very satisfied expression towards Guardiola, so he quickly followed suit and praised him as well.
Sammer looked somewhat speechless at the other party. In his impression, Hoeness hadn't given Guardiola such high praise before.
"Well, Muller scored. I think he's playing smarter than before, don't you think so, Matthias?"
Sammer nodded, "Muller and Kroos have made great progress, and Lahm has become more versatile. But..."
Guardiola's arrival injected fresh blood into Bayern.
Under his guidance, the technical skills of Bayern players became more delicate, and their cooperation on the field improved.
Their style of play gradually tended to align with Spanish teams, which was a change that made Guardiola very happy.
However, some of Guardiola's reforms made the club somewhat difficult.
For example, Guardiola didn't like to use or wasn't good at using center forwards.
This caused tension between Mandzukic and Guardiola. The former had already pressured the club through his agent: If his starting position couldn't be guaranteed, Mandzukic might leave Bayern.
With Gomez already gone, Mandzukic was the only reliable center forward Bayern had at the moment.
If he left, Bayern would have no strong center forwards available.
Although Guardiola didn't like using center forwards very much, Bayern was a top club and couldn't be without players in this role.
Fortunately, there were alternative players on Bayern's transfer list, such as Dortmund's forward Lewandowski.
Sammer remembered that his contract was expiring next summer, and at this time Dortmund hadn't renewed his contract yet, indicating that he had intentions to leave Dortmund.
If that's the case, it would be better to contact him now and see if he's interested. If he is, it would be better to buy him.
So, taking advantage of this opportunity, he mentioned this matter.
"Dortmund's number 9? He's indeed a good center forward. If we can sign him for free, this deal would be quite profitable."
Rummenigge had an impression of Lewandowski. This guy had once scored a hat-trick against Bayern and snatched their championship trophy.
Apart from Lin Quan from last season, Lewandowski was the second striker in the Bundesliga who left a deep impression on him.
Bayern Munich is adept at acting as a digger in the Bundesliga, excavating excellent players from other teams.
This practice not only saves a lot of transfer fees but also weakens the strength of their competitors, making Bayern's dominance in the Bundesliga even stronger.
"Chairman, Schweinsteiger is somewhat dissatisfied with not being able to start. What do you think?"
Club manager Hoeness noticed Rummenigge's good mood and took the opportunity to speak up.
The arrivals of Goretzka and Thiago have intensified the competition in Bayern's midfield, making Schweinsteiger's starting position less secure.
Coupled with Schweinsteiger's increased number of injuries, Guardiola has shown a tendency to sideline him recently.
For example, in this important match, Schweinsteiger didn't even make Guardiola's squad list.
Schweinsteiger is a genuine product of Bayern's youth academy, having joined Bayern at the age of 14 and served the club for over 15 years.
For such a meritorious veteran, Bayern cannot simply discard him or ruthlessly push him out.
Doing so would dismay the old players and provoke dissatisfaction among the fans.
Therefore, Hoeness originally planned to have a chat with Guardiola.
However, after seeing Guardiola lead the team to such good results, he felt a bit less confident.
"Well, I see!"
Rummenigge nodded, indicating that he understood the matter but did not explicitly state whether he would intervene.
Among the 11 players on Bayern's field, except for Dante and Ribery, who are both 30 years old, and Lahm, who is approaching 30, the remaining players are very young.
Goalkeeper Neuer is 27 years old, just entering the peak of his career as a goalkeeper. He can serve Bayern for at least another seven or eight years, or even ten years!
Defenders Boateng and Alaba are 25 and 21 years old, respectively, and can serve Bayern for at least ten years!
Midfielders Thiago, Goretzka, and Kroos are all born in the 90s, with the oldest Kroos being only 23 years old and the youngest Goretzka being only 21 years old. There is no problem with them serving Bayern for ten years.
Forward Muller, born in 1989, is only 24 years old this year, and playing for another eight or nine years is completely fine.
Mandzukic is the same age as Neuer and is currently at his peak.
If he leaves and is replaced by Lewandowski, born in 1988, Bayern's lineup will be further rejuvenated.
As long as these players are retained, Bayern's main lineup for the next ten years will not need much adjustment.
These players are not only young but also strong, and more importantly, they have proven themselves at Bayern.
Once Guardiola solidifies Bayern's tactics after transforming the team, even if he leaves Bayern, the team's performance will not suffer much decline.
In this case, the club is not in a good position to interfere with his reforms to the team.
Rummenigge at most would just come forward to appease Schweinsteiger's emotions and then have a chat with Guardiola to see if he could compromise.
However, Rummenigge actually highly approves and even admires Guardiola's bold use of young players.
Being adept at using and nurturing young players, and willing to give them playing opportunities, has always been praised and commended by the outside world regarding Guardiola.
Bayern initially hired him as a coach precisely because of this.
They hoped Guardiola would help Bayern smoothly transition after winning the championship, laying the foundation for the next rise.
Now it seems that Guardiola has perfectly fulfilled the task entrusted to him by Bayern.
Moreover, after transforming Bayern's team lineup, he has maintained excellent performance in both the league and the Champions League.
What more could you ask for from such a coach?
Therefore, even Rummenigge, at this time, dare not sour his relationship with Guardiola.
If he were to anger Guardiola, where else could they find such a good coach?
...
On the sidelines, seeing the team take the lead early, Guardiola did not appear overly excited.
In order to defeat Manchester City in this game, he made some adjustments to his tactics.
Although not fond of using center forwards, he still included Mandzukic in the starting lineup.
As it turned out, this decision was very correct.
Mandzukic played a pivotal role in the front, setting up opportunities for Bayern's attacks.
Muller's first goal was assisted by Mandzukic, and Goretzka's goal also had a lot to do with him.
But now that they are leading, the opponents may launch a counterattack.
Guardiola is considering whether to replace Mandzukic with a fast, breakthrough winger in the second half.
This way, when Manchester City attacks, they can try to use speed to counterattack.
However, unfortunately, Robben is injured, and now only Ribery remains from the Robbery duo.
Fortunately, Shaqiri is sitting on the bench. Although his strength is not as good as Robben's, it is enough.
But everything is still early, Manchester City is unlikely to do nothing after falling behind.
As Guardiola contemplated, his gaze fell on the young player wearing the light blue number 10 jersey on the field.
"Lin, your team is in a dire situation, what would you do?"
On the pitch, Manchester City's players seemed a bit bewildered.
Bayern's strength was indeed formidable, completely different from the opponents they faced in the league.
In the last home game, they were once overwhelmed by Bayern and struggled to catch their breath.
This feeling became even stronger after coming to the opponent's home ground.
Due to Pantilimon's poor performance in the league, Pellegrini had lost trust in him.
This time, Manchester City's starting goalkeeper was once again replaced by Joe Hart.
However, in the first half, the gate guarded by Hart was breached twice.
This left Hart feeling a bit embarrassed and extremely anxious, fearing that he might be substituted by the coach in anger.
Fortunately, Pellegrini did not blame the goalkeeper for conceding those two goals.
The Chilean engineer was now more concerned about the team's defensive issues, having been remodeling the team's backline since he arrived at Manchester City.
Various combinations of defenders were tried, but the results were still unsatisfactory.
In the Premier League before, they often conceded goals against weaker opponents, so expecting this defensive line to keep a clean sheet against the powerful Bayern Munich away from home?
Dream on!
He just didn't expect the goals to come so early and in such numbers!
Conceding two goals in 12 minutes was too passive!
"It seems Bayern has seen through our defensive characteristics, their attacks are very targeted!"
"Mandzukic is just a decoy today, he only acts as a pivot in Bayern's attacking process, but Müller's presence as a second striker still poses a threat to us in the middle!"
The first goal came from Mandzukic's pass back, and Müller took advantage of the lack of marking to score.
This was a defensive error by Manchester City. After changing their defensive strategy, Müller started moving to the sides again, cooperating with the wing players to attack Manchester City's defensive line.
Bayern's full-backs have strong attacking abilities, and their wingers' strength is even more remarkable.
With Müller joining in, Manchester City's wings were undoubtedly torn apart.
Goretzka's second goal also came from the wings!
Now they didn't know what to do!
It felt like strengthening defense in any position was futile.
Pellegrini glanced somewhat apprehensively at Bayern's coaching bench; it seemed like all his decisions had been anticipated by that man in advance.
He had felt this way last time at the Etihad Stadium.
This time at the Allianz Arena, this feeling was even more apparent!
Pellegrini felt a bit frustrated. Could he really not defeat this man?
Seeing no adjustments from the coaching staff on the sidelines, the players on the field couldn't wait any longer. They gathered together to discuss.
"Since we're already two goals down, why not go all out and attack!"
Being two goals down, what's the point of shrinking back and defending in our own half?
To compete for the top spot in the group, we must attack and score goals!
"Well, I'm tired of defending too. I've been wanting to go out there and take them on!"
"Yeah, Bayern may be strong, but so what? We've beaten them before!"
"We managed to overturn them last time, and we can do it again this time!"
The players exchanged words, successfully boosting morale.
Although two goals down, they didn't show signs of despair and panic; instead, there was anger and defiance on their faces.
Obviously, Manchester City's players hadn't lost their fighting spirit, and some were even provoked.
"Lin, which side should we attack?"
As Manchester City's attacking core, all eyes turned to Lin Quan, waiting for his decision.
Lin Quan glanced at Ribery on Bayern's left and Goretzka on the right.
He had faced both of them before. If he were to evaluate, Goretzka was obviously the weaker one. Both in physical confrontation and match experience, he was not as strong as Ribery.
In that case, let's target Goretzka this time.
"David, let's play like this..."
He discussed with several players and then looked squarely at Goretzka.
Goretzka felt a few unfriendly gazes directed at him. When he looked up, he met the gazes of Lin Quan and several other Manchester City players.
Seeing the faint smile on the opponents' lips, Goretzka felt puzzled.
You're two goals down, and you're still smiling?
Shouldn't we be the ones smiling?
However, after the game resumed, Goretzka couldn't smile anymore.
Because he saw Manchester City's core, dribbling the ball directly towards the goal, appearing in front of him.
(End of this chapter)
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