7
Monday
July 2025
2:33 AM IST
News Headlines
Home   | Main News   | Kerala  | National   | International  | Business   | Sports   | Entertainment   | Columns   | Offbeat   | Health   | About Deepika 
Sports News
Analysis: Tinkering Guardiola too clever for his own good
 
Porto (Portugal), May 30 (AP) Imagine telling Pep Guardiola a decade ago he wouldn't be lifting the European Cup again.

The wait goes on. Three times falling short in campaigns with Bayern Munich. Now a fifth failure with Manchester City.

For all his coaching genius, Guardiola can be too clever for his own good.

A 10-year wait to return to a Champions League final after the second of his Barcelona successes is a long time to spend thinking about how to lift the cup again. And overthinking, if the strategy to take on Chelsea was anything to go by on Saturday.

Tinkering for the biggest game in City's history, the unfamiliar lineup sent out by Guardiola was beaten by a coach in only his 30th match in charge of Chelsea.

As City awaits its first European title, Thomas Tuchel delivered Chelsea's second only four months after replacing Frank Lampard. Make no mistake: City had no one to blame but itself on a night when it had only one shot on target as Chelsea won 1-0 in Porto.

Maybe little surprise then that Sheikh Mansour didn't turn up in Portugal to attend what would have been his second known match since buying City 13 years ago.

Even with all the cash City's Abu Dhabi ownership has lavished on Guardiola to shape the squad in his own guise, there's a brutal reality. He's still not won the Champions League without a team containing Lionel Messi.

How differently things could have been if Messi had been able to force his way out of Barcelona as planned. Time for another summer pursuit of the 33-year-old Argentine, perhaps? Prizing the unsettled Harry Kane from Tottenham could take 200 million.

We've got used to City playing without strikers. Yet, in the desperate search for an equalizer, Gabriel Jesus and then Sergio Aguero were sent on.

There would be no fairytale ending for Aguero with a repeat of the late drama that saw him clinch City's first Premier League title in 2012. The Premier League trophy has been lifted another four times since then three times under Guardiola including last Sunday but the quest to win the biggest prize in European football goes on.

There was the unexpected setback of losing the playmaking ingenuity of Kevin De Bruyne over concussion fears after an hour.

But just why did Guardiola again shackle the creativity of Ilkay G ndogan when he's top scorer for the club this season? Instead the German was held back in a defensive midfield role while Rodri and Fernandinho started on the bench. At least one of the positional specialists have started in every game apart from one in City's 60-match season.

It's a season when Guardiola will have to settle with another double of just a frustration by City's high expectations that didn't exist until the 2008 takeover the Premier League and League Cup.

A first cup final defeat as City manager leaves Guardiola with the unwelcome distinction of being on a par with one of the game's other managerial greats. Long into retirement, Alex Ferguson still speaks of the regret of only winning the Champions League twice with Manchester United.

Guardiola's wait for a third stretches into a sixth season at City.

Now I want to go home and take a break of one or two weeks, Guardiola said.

After that I'll start to see with the club what is best.


KL Rahul out, Ishan Kishan in for WTC final
Mumbai City FC on course to becoming ISL ‘Invincibles’
Mumbai City FC win 4-0 as Bengaluru FC’s misery deepens
Australia thrash undermanned England in first ODI
Pollard announces IPL retirement, appointed as MI's batting coach
Sharath Kamal to receive Khel Ratna on November 30
England’s Sam Curran named ICC Player of the Tournament
Kerala Blasters beat FC Goa 3-1 in ISL
Pakistan ready for Kiwi challenge in semis after late surge
Kohli named ICC Player of the month
SL cricketer Danushka Gunathilaka arrested in Sydney for alleged sexual assault, faces 'stern' action
Suryakumar pips Rizwan to claim top spot in T20 rankings
India aim to weed out Shakib's statement by defeating Bangladesh
Pandya, Dhawan to lead in New Zealand; BCCI names three captains for four series
Killer Miller' shines as SA pull off exciting win over India
Rain ruins proceedings as contest between Australia & England called off
Ireland move into Super 12s,WI crash out of T20 WC
PCB condemns BCCI's decision, seeks urgent ACC meeting
Pat Cummins named Australia's ODI captain
Ballon d'Or 2022: Karim Benzema, Alexia Putellas clinch top honours
KERALA NEWS
Top police official held in gang rape case
 Kozhikode: Police on Sunday arrested a Circle Inspector (station house officer) attached in Beypore  
Rain likely to occur many places in Kerala
Two killed as car plunged into well
Kerala CM greet Oommen Chandy on his 79th birthday
INTERNATIONAL NEWS
64 arrested in London on Charles III coronation day
 London: At least 64 people were arrested in UK's capital during the coronation of Charles III on May
Bangladesh police arrest six persons for selling fraud US visa stamps
Erdogan announces extension of grain deal by 120 days
Musk hints at new chief for Twitter
NATIONAL NEWS
Quo Vadis, Manipur?
 Imphal - Hardly any state in India has undergone in the last decade the chaos, lawlessness and suffe
27-year-old Hyderabad woman among victims of Texas mall shooting
One held in Swati Maliwal case: Delhi Police
PM to deliver opening address at 'No Money for Terror' event
Untitled Page
Rashtra Deepika LTD
Copyright @ 2021 , Rashtra Deepika Ltd.