Beyond the emotions of the Bernabéu and Guardiola's game

The emotion against the game.

If this semi-final between Real Madrid and Manchester City had to be conceptually simplified, such a conclusion could be reached.

The first leg showed it, with a scorching City for their attacking combinations and the level of possession, and a Madrid that unlocked the coffin three times, clinging to an indecipherable algorithm that makes them the best team in the worst situation.

The outcome, tonight (9:00 p.m.-Movistar) at the Bernabéu, will not be different.

is the flesh and blood representation of the game.

He has been raised in the aristocracy of football, which is why he has adapted very well to the heraldry of Madrid and to his historical destiny.

The two, however, warned that it will not be enough to play and appeal to history.

Like all intelligent people, they know the value of relativism.

The Madrid of emotions has the footballer who plays like nobody else,

;

the City of the game is directed by the coach who best combats the electricity of the Bernabéu.

The Champions League final, on May 28 in Paris, is not reached with absolute truths.

“If you reach a final or win a Champions League, you don't do it solely for your heart.

There are many aspects: the heart, of course, the commitment, the individual quality... You cannot beat City only with the heart and the push of the Bernabéu”, Ancelotti said.

"To beat Madrid it's not enough to play a good game," Guardiola insisted.

“Surely, we have to play better than in the first leg to get through.

But maybe we can play worse and pass too.

Football is unpredictable », he added.

GUARDIOLA RECOVERS SIDES

Better than in the first leg, where City won 4-3, it's difficult to do it offensively, but not defensively.

Guardiola recovers

but maintains his doubts about

.

At the Etihad he could not count on any of his two starting full-backs, and that's where the problems came from.

, touched, appeared on the right to be replaced in the second half by

.

Two sides of circumstances that made water.

Stones is already ruled out.

Ancelotti also saw his team shipwreck in defence.

So he decided to field a

very depleted

This time he will not be that way, although the Austrian remains in the call.

, his natural replacement, has shown security this season.

The Italian coach appeals to character, but flees from an inflamed speech in which everything was at the expense of the atmosphere.

He needs more.

Guardiola is not affected by stage fright.

He even encourages you.

As visiting coach, he has lost just once at the Bernabéu (1-0 with Bayern) in his nine visits.

What the Catalan cannot control is how he will influence his players, all very experienced in high-level matches individually, but less so as 'citizens'.

Guardiola needs what he most admires about his rival, according to what he said in Manchester, and that is that his soccer players "do not burn the ball" in difficult moments.

City, like Madrid itself, will go through them.

The background of the passage through the Metropolitan left the question of whether the collapse suffered was physical or mental.

All the protagonists of that clash referred to fatigue, involved in a FA Cup semi-final and a Premier final in conflict with Liverpool.

Madrid will try, today, to take them to that place, to a metaphorical end of fear.

VALVERDE'S OPTION

Guardiola has no reason to change the things that have already worked at the Etihad, where

's position as a midfielder, instead of as a false nine, a role played on other occasions by the Portuguese, was a success.

To the quality of it joins a Stajanovist work.

On the other hand, the ownership of

did not work the same for his counterpart , so he could opt for

, leaning to the right but with more weight in the center of the field.

Madrid has to win, but a difference goal does not imply calling the cavalry.

The two teams arrive with good feelings from their last games.

Although they are older in Madrid due to the achievement of the League title, their game against Espanyol was less demanding than that of City in Leeds, where they could not let their advantage escape at the head of the Premier against a rival that fights for permanence .

He scored four goals, as many as Madrid at the Bernabéu, where Ancelotti was able to book starters.

Nothing indicates that this places him in a clear position of advantage.

He also arrived at the Etihad with more rest than the 'citizen', having played the Cup final in Spain the previous weekend.

DE BRUYNE AND BENZEMA

Guardiola's record at the Bernabéu makes it clear that he will attack.

The first goal is not going to be definitive, but he can have enormous value mentally for his team.

This Guardiola, however, is different from the one who arrived with Barça, even with Bayern.

The adaptation to English football has made him more pragmatic, less dogmatic.

He knows, however, that his message is in the hands of his footballers, and that these are duels for great appearances.

That is why he fears

.

That is why he waits for

.

In the twilight of the era of

and

, and without

having managed to get past the quarterfinals, on the way to a final that the war in Ukraine has relocated to his city, the passage to the appointment can also mean the leap to a throne individually vacant.

In the collective, on the other hand, nobody knows that place like Madrid.

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