Champions: Another Guardiola debacle: from 3-0 to 3-3 after 15 minutes of chaos against Feyenoord

With a quarter of an hour left, the only concern for Pep Guardiola It seemed like a sharing of efforts, with an eye on Sunday’s crucial match at Anfield. At that time, the doublet of Erling Haaland It paved the way for a resounding victory, the first in many weeks. However, the goals of El Hadj Moussa, Santiago Gimenez y David Hancko They spread desolation at the Etihad. To the five consecutive defeats we had to add another disappointment for Manchester City (3-3).

In 15 minutes, the team Brian Priske He made the Etihad his own with insulting conviction. Its verticality revealed If Guardiolalleged leader of the defense skyblue already Edersontoo lukewarm in the last two goals. The same deficiencies, corrected and increased, that facilitated Tottenham’s 0-4 victory last Saturday.

To try to alleviate them, Guardiola’s first tactical response was to return Rico Lewis to the right side, with Matheus Nunes ahead of Ilkay Gündogan on the media line. Of course, the youth player assumed a creative role at the beginning of the play, leaving the back line with only three troops. This variant went down as well as the evolutions of Bernardo Silva as a new right-handed interior.

City’s football did not give Feyenoord a break, with no chance of even stepping on the rival field during the first half hour. Timon Wellenreuther saved the Dutch runner-up with an amazing intervention against Haaland, whose resounding header well deserved the net, and another against a left-footed Phil Foden from the front. Jack Grealishback in the eleven, was also able to score 1-0 with a volley repelled by the defense.

A memory for Slot

Even without reasons for euphoria, the noisy visiting fans started with the chords of the You’ll never walk alone and other songs with which to remember Arne Slotthe coach who made them champions in 2023 and who now leads Liverpool, the absolute leader of the Premier. The boos from the Etihad were followed by a moment of anxiety, when Igor Paixão He took advantage of a poor defensive balance to test Ederson’s gloves for the first time.

Guardiola could not tolerate more mistakes on the very rare occasions that the rival made his defense turn. He seemed to be talking about it with Juanma Lillo in the technical zone, gripped by nerves due to the ticking of the clock, when Antoni Milambo He knocked down Haaland with a treacherous kick. From 11 meters, the Norwegian scored his 45th goal in the Champions League. If we add five assists to them, a complete record is reached. No footballer has needed fewer games (44) to participate in 50 goals in this tournament. Ruud van Nistelrooywho held the previous record, specified 56.

If Feyenoord tried to organize their thoughts during the break, the slap of reality was even more painful. There was almost no respite between Gündogan’s shot into the net, bounced off Hancko, and Nunes’s ride down the right, for Haaland to finish like a steamroller at the far post. Savinho, Kyle Walker y Ruben Dias They then went out to warm up the band, totally oblivious to what was coming.

Red to Dembélé in Munich

In the other match of the day, Bayern left PSG in a critical situation, thanks to a goal from Kim Min-Jaebeneficiary of a blatant error Matvey Sáfonov. The Russian goalkeeper, a great novelty in the eleven, showed the fragility of the team Luis Enriquewhose bold approach falls apart due to the lack of forcefulness in the areas.

Bradley Barcola y Ousmane Dembéléfar from their best moment, never disturbed the rear of Vincent Kompany. Not satisfied, the former Barcelona player earned an absurd red card in the 57th minute. The sentence could have come with a shot from Jamal Musiala repelled by the wood and the hand of Safonov. For the seventh day in a row, Bayern kept a clean sheet. In one of the backgrounds, the fans had already collected their protest banner against Nasser Al-Khelaifi.

The PSG owner is now plagued by quite a few migraines. With only three goals in five Champions League games, the French champion will risk its future in the last three, traveling to Salzburg and Stuttgart and hosting City. Being left out of the top-24 would be the death blow for the megalomaniac Qatari project.