Despite being young for a football coach, Pep Guardiola has lifted the Champions League twice. He won it both times against Barcelona, playing a football brand far ahead of any serious competition. Manchester City's owners identified him as their prime target to take over as manager in 2016 because of his ability to lift the most coveted trophy in domestic football.
Although the Spaniard has dominated domestically, despite stiff competition from the likes of Liverpool and, more recently, Arsenal, Europe's biggest trophy continues to evade him. They've become unstuck at several hurdles, yet Pep has continued to build behind the scenes and added more world-class talent into a squad crammed with quality and depth in each position.
What Has Gone Wrong for Pep?
They were incredibly close last season to making it an all-English final against Liverpool last year - a team they managed to fight off until the final day to win the EPL. Instead, Guardiola's team allowed Real Madrid to rise from the ashes when they looked dead and buried. This lack of a killer instinct in Europe has been an unwanted moniker Pep has picked up recently.Manchester City didn't exactly crumble; they were ridiculously unlucky not to get to the final. They dominated both ties, and it took two last-minute goals in the away leg at the Bernabeau to swing the tide in their favor. The game in Madrid should have been out of sight with 20/25 minutes left, they should have scored four or five, and you only need to look at the statistics from that game to see how much they dominated.
However, it doesn't get much more dramatic or exciting than two last-minute goals in a Champions League semi-final. Manchester City went into this game as a favorite with all the gambling companies; honestly, few activities could match this excitement. One of the few is online pokies, but you'd have to think long and hard to find anything that generates such drama and excitement. Online casinos and sportsbooks tend to give the best picture of how a game is likely to play out. The odds for Manchester City to beat Real Madrid in this year's semi-final are similar to last year, so surely the same thing couldn't unfold again.
Ancelotti Against Pep
Still, the fact is that Ancelotti's men reigned supreme once more, beating Liverpool in the final means he has four Champions Leagues in his cabinet compared to Pep. Manchester City's failure to put the semi-final to bed last year was one of the most vocal criticisms of their Spanish boss. However, he has answered any questions about their strike force not being potent enough by bringing in a young Norwegian named Erling Haaland.As you probably know, Haaland is on course to smash every English goalscoring record in his first season in the division. However, this task is made substantially more straightforward when you have an undercurrent of phenomenal midfield talent like Kevin De Bruyne putting the ball on a proverbial plate. Real Madrid was lucky last season to beat both Man City and Liverpool. It took two out-of-this-world individual displays from Karim Benzema in the semi-final and Thibaut Courtois in the final. Although you can never write off the mesmerizing tactical genius of Carlo Ancelotti, we think Haaland will be the difference this time, and he can put his demons to bed.
If the quarter-final against Bayern Munich is anything to go by, Manchester City could cruise past Real pretty convincingly, the German giants stood no chance against them, and it is unlikely that Madrid could put up much more of a sterner test.
Conclusion
The last person to write off Carlo Ancelotti and Real Madrid will be Pep Guardiola. He will be incredibly driven by the fact they were on the receiving end of such a humiliating last-gasp defeat last year. Strengthening with Erling Haaland will be the final piece of the puzzle for Pep to go on and win his third Champions League.Manchester City should get past Real Madrid this time, and if they do, they will face one of Milan's legendary clubs in the final. The Milan Derby is a fascinating encounter to see which Italian team will represent themselves at the pinnacle of the domestic game.
Carlo Ancelotti will be keen to lift his fifth European Cup; he is already the only manager to win four and will feel confident that he has the psychological edge over Pep. Many analysts view this game as the final, and whoever wins it will go on to win the competition.
We fancy City to beat Madrid. Naturally, they should win the Champions League for the first time in their history, de facto. Guardiola will feel like his work is complete at Manchester City, and you'd think he will part ways with the club sooner rather than later. It'll be genuinely fascinating to see how it plays out this year with so much on the line.
