Real Madrid 3-0 Man City: Champions League miracle required after Pep Guardiola’s surprise tactical decisions backfire at the Bernabeu

Pep Guardiola is deservedly regarded as one of the greatest football managers of all time, a revolutionary football mastermind – but even he can get his tactics wrong on the big stage.

It was a sobering night for his Manchester City side on Wednesday as they were left stunned by a ruthless Real Madrid outfit, who romped to a 3-0 victory in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie at the Bernabeu.

Three months after celebrating a 2-1 League Phase triumph in the Spanish capital, Man City’s defensive frailties were ruthlessly exposed and Los Blancos captain Federico Valverde blew the Citizens away with an exceptional first-half hat-trick.

Alvaro Arbeloa’s Real Madrid zipped the ball across the Bernabeu grass with ease and precision, retaining possession well and preventing Man City from playing their own game.

Guardiola’s men simply could not lay a glove on Los Blancos, who delivered a statement result on a huge European night without the presence of injured stars Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo to name a few.

After the match, Guardiola defended his team selection and felt that his players performed better than the result suggested, but it is difficult not to question some of the surprise decisions the Catalan made that ultimately backfired and played a major part in City’s downfall in Madrid.

Questions raised over Guardiola’s surprise Man City lineup

Man City entered the first leg boasting an 11-game unbeaten run in all competitions and following their 3-1 victory at Newcastle United in the FA Cup fifth round last weekend, Guardiola opted to make seven changes to his starting lineup.

Senior stars including Erling Haaland, Bernardo Silva, Rodri and Gianluigi Donnarumma were rested against the Magpies and, as expected, were recalled to face Real Madrid, but City’s XI left many supporters scratching their heads.

Guardiola - who insisted before kickoff that there would be "no surprises" - began with three wingers in Antoine Semenyo - making his Champions League debut - Jeremy Doku and Savinho, the latter of whom impressed and scored against Newcastle on his first start in over two months since recovering from injury.

However, that one performance did not justify the Brazilian’s selection from the start over someone like Rayan Cherki or even Phil Foden for a game of this magnitude. Savinho has frustrated many City fans with his lack of an end product and he failed to deliver on the right once again on Wednesday before being hooked at half time.

Rodri and Bernardo were both selected to start in centre-midfield, but that midfield combination did not have the legs or energy required to match the intensity of Real Madrid’s lively trio of Valverde, Aurelien Tchouameni and 18-year-old Thiago Pitarch Pinar, who bossed the midfield for the vast majority of the contest.

Nico O'Reilly has excelled as a midfielder in recent months, yet Guardiola decided to play him at left-back instead and drop Rayan Ait-Nouri, who has barley put a foot wrong since returning to the City side after his AFCON duties.

O’Reilly misjudged Thibaut Courtois’s brilliant long-range pass that led to Valverde’s opening goal, and he was part of a back four that looked vulnerable all night long – once again playing a high line that Real Madrid's fluid frontline exposed to great effect.

Another surprise call from Guardiola – albeit it one that did not have much of an impact on the result – was to bench Matheus Nunes and start Abdukodir Khusanov at right-back instead, with his pace and strength presumably seen as essential traits to help combat the threat of Vinicius Junior.

However, Nunes has come on leaps and bounds as a right-back this season and he deserved to be rewarded with a start in a big game like this. He would have also offered a greater threat going forward than Khusanov.

Guardiola decided to bring on Cherki with 20 minutes remaining and then Omar Marmoush for the ineffective Haaland on the 83-minute mark; both players were brought on too late and were unable to truly put their stamp on a match deservedly won by Real Madrid.

Man City have mountain to climb to join exclusive Champions League club

Reflecting on a “really dark” night in Madrid, Bernardo Silva remains “hopeful” that Man City can mount a memorable comeback in next Tuesday’s second leg at the Etihad Stadium, while Donnarumma - who saved a second-half penalty from Vinicius - told TNT Sports pundit and ex-City goalkeeper Joe Hart that this tie ‘is not over’.

However, Guardiola has admitted that his team have “not much” chance of ousting Real Madrid, and it is fair to say that Man City need a miracle to overturn a three-goal deficit, something which has only ever been achieved four times in Champions League knockout history.

Guardiola’s former club Barcelona are the only Champions League team to fight back from four goals down to win a knockout tie, beating Paris Saint-Germain 6-5 on aggregate after following up a 4-0 first-leg loss in France with a remarkable 6-1 second-leg triumph at Camp Nou in 2016-17.

Barcelona have also been on the receiving end of two defeats despite leading by three goals after the first leg. Liverpool won 4-0 at Anfield (4-3 on aggregate) to knock the Catalan giants out in the 2018-19 semi-finals, a year after Roma won 3-0 in Italy (4-4 on aggregate) and progressed via the away goals rule.

The very first Champions League team to overturn a three-goal deficit were Spanish side Deportivo La Coruna, who lost 4-1 to AC Milan before winning the second leg 4-0 on home soil to edge through to the 2003-04 semi-finals 5-4 on aggregate.

Similar heroics are required from Man City if they are to pull off a comeback for the ages against the "kings" of the Champions League next week.