With a balancing act that sees Manchester City host Atletico Madrid on Tuesday for the first leg of the Champions League final before also hosting Liverpool on Sunday 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, City crashed out by a 3-1 score. Overthinking was something that Guardiola acknowledged in his match preview saying “Always I overthink and create new tactical and ideas. And tomorrow you will see a new one.” When asked for clarification or if he was joking, Guardiola continued saying, “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 know what you’ll get, Guardiola will need to ensure that City doesn’t beat themselves during a match that they should be favored in. 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 so 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, they’ve 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.
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
Prediction
Oblak keeps this one competitive but Manchester City eventually poke home a winner via Riyad Mahrez. Pick: Manchester City 1, Atletico Madrid 0
