The invincibility of Manchester City and the injury of the PSG striker: what is interesting about the Champions League semi-final in Paris

Guardiola bypassed Lobanovsky

Pep Guardiola goes to the capital of France, having already gone down in history.

On Sunday, his Manchester City beat Tottenham to a minimum in the FA Cup final and won the trophy for the fourth time in a row.

For the Catalan, the title became the 30th in his career, which brought him to a clear third place in the list of the most successful mentors in Europe.

Only the current boss of Kiev Dynamo Mircea Lucescu (34 trophies) and the legendary ex-manager of Manchester United Alex Ferguson (49 awards) have received more awards during their work at the club level.

True, both worked in various positions for almost four decades.

Guardiola began to work independently only in 2008.

But he has already entered the top 3, bypassing Valery Lobanovsky himself, and is not going to stop.

In the Premier League, it is enough for his team to score six points in the remaining five matches to regain championship status.

And if you remember that the opponents will be teams of the level of Newcastle, Brighton and Crystal Palace, then gold can be sent to Manchester today without fear of making a mistake.

But if in the Premier League there are only a couple of rounds before the main trophy, then in the semi-finals of the Champions League City must beat Paris Saint-Germain.

Pochettino regularly lost to Guardiola

For Pep, such a rival is a tidbit. At least because Mauricio Pochettino is at the helm of the French. The one that until recently ruled Tottenham and regularly lost key battles to Guardiola (out of 18 personal meetings, only three remained for the Argentine). The only exception was the 2018/19 season, when a real drama happened in the Champions League quarterfinals: in stoppage time of the return leg Raheem Sterling scored a goal that brought City to the next round. But after using VAR referee Cuneyt Chakyr canceled the goal - and Manchester were eliminated from the tournament. The Londoners then made it to the final, achieving the best Champions League result in history. But the main match was lost, after which the era of Pochettino at White Hart Lane quickly went to decline. Pep, on the other hand, only got stronger - and after restarting the team,two years later, he again claims a golden hat-trick.

However, the Parisians are full of self-confidence and are ready to defend the coach.

After all, a round earlier Pochettino proved to be a brilliant tactician - PSG beat Bayern, the plenipotentiary winner of the trophy, and take revenge for the defeat in last year's final.

The Parisians are pleased with the very fact of getting into the quartet of the best teams in Europe, since since 1991 no French club has climbed so high for two seasons in a row.

However, PSG understands that this is not the limit of possibilities.

After all, in home matches they win regularly - now they have a streak of four such games in a row - and even score.

For example, on the named successful segment, Neymar, Killian Mbappe and their teammates in the attack group play at least two balls per evening after the 60th minute.

Without Mbappe, it is difficult to crack the exemplary defense of the British

However, the participation of the French striker in the Paris duel is questionable. Due to muscle damage sustained over the weekend, Mbappe risks being left out of the match request or spending a limited amount of time on the field. This is a tangible blow to PSG's ambitions, as City is now so monolithic that it has not been inferior in the 2020/21 Championships. Moreover, Guardiola's squad, which has nine victories to its credit, is striving for the history of English football. The double-digit number of triumphant games for the Premier League teams within the framework of a single season has never been recruited in the current Champions League format. Accordingly, only with the conversion of chances close to ideal, the Parisians will be able to try to stop the British car.

Even the most inveterate skeptic will no longer doubt the fact that it has gained crazy momentum if you look at the statistical calculations of the season.

Since December 12, Manchester have left the field only once without a goal, having run into Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea.

Otherwise, both pure forwards of the caliber of Sergio Aguero or Gabriel Jesus, and false nines like Bernardo Silva regularly score.

In addition, Phil Foden scored excellent shape, and Kevin De Bruyne also fully recovered from an injury.

Against such an attack group, even the return to the composition of Marco Veratti and the willingness to enter the field through “I can’t” Markinews is not an argument.

Indeed, in the Champions League, the Mankunians are not far from the performance of the Premier League, where they most often hit on goal, create poignant moments and score goals.

Semi-final - battle of the sheikhs

Arab team owners are another interesting intersection in the semi-final conflict. On both sides, the sheikhs have invested huge sums of money to turn their collectives into stars. But only after winning the Champions League, this status will be officially assigned to the franchises. While PSG and City cannot boast of the continent's main trophy. But their passion is how they want to become the 23rd club to enter their name in the list of the tournament's victors. In the 2015/16 season, they already clashed in a knockout round. And then, at the quarterfinal stage, the British were stronger, as de Bruyne, Aguero and Fernandinho remember exactly. On the Paris side, Angel di Maria, Markinews, Presnel Kimpembe and Leven Kurzava can tell their teammates about their past failure. However, now it is much more reasonable for them to focus on solving pressing problems. For example, patching up the Parisian defenses:in the last eight meetings PSG have kept the goal intact only once.

Surely the Parisians will think hard about countering the positional offensive of their rivals.

Indeed, even in the minority, "City" maintains a harmonious formation.

For example, in a match a week ago against Aston Villa, Guardiola's team conceded already at the 20th second, and at the 44th they were in the minority.

However, even this did not prevent “Manchester” from defeating the rival 2: 1 - and remaining the most effective attacking and least conceding team in the league.

This power cannot be overlooked, and therefore it is openly recognized and respected by Pochettino: “These will be tough and very competitive matches. City is one of the best teams on the planet, they have the best coach. Of course, it will be more difficult than it was with Bayern, but let's see who knows. We knocked out the reigning European champions. Now we are in the semifinals and must work even harder. The most important thing is 180 minutes, according to the results of which it will be decided who will reach the final. We must play better than our opponent. "

Will the Pochettino team succeed in this? The chances, frankly, are not very great. After all, on a foreign field, "Manchester" away for the entire season in all tournaments lost only twice. Whereas Mauricio did not score even 50% of possible points against large teams even in Ligue 1. Another misfire will happen - and it will be just right to talk about the Guardiola complex, which was developed by the Argentine. On the other hand, where, no matter how in the semi-finals of the Champions League, this complex can be overcome.