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BERLIN. — After watching his side held to a second successive 1-1 draw, this time in the first leg of their Champions League football last-16 tie with RB Leipzig on Wednesday night, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola offered a novel solution to the visitors’ struggles to score more.
Guardiola joked he could throw caution to the wind to finish off Leipzig in the Champions League by fielding “nine strikers”.
City were held to a 1-1 draw in Germany on Wednesday in the first leg of their last 16 tie with Riyad Mahrez’s opener cancelled out by a header from Josko Gvardiol.
“Maybe in the second leg I will be crazy and play with nine strikers,” Guardiola joked. “I didn’t want to come here and lose 4-3. It will have to be more open in Manchester,” said Guardiola who coached Bayern Munich to Bundesliga titles in each of his three years in Germany and said City “could not compete” with the speed of German teams. “We don’t have the team to compete with them with a lot of transitions, they are better than us and they are faster than us, except Kyle (Walker) and Erling (Haaland). “The pace they have, we don’t have it.”
Guardiola added: “Maybe in the second leg I will be crazy and decide to play with nine strikers. But I’ve coached in this country and I analysed Leipzig and I needed this type of control.”
Guardiola may have appeared in a positive mood after the game in Germany — and an away draw in a European knockout game is certainly not a result to be sniffed at – but it will likely still frustrate him that his side have not turned their recent dominance into more goals.
At the weekend they dropped two points in the English Premier League title race after a first-half opener for City was cancelled out by a second-half equaliser by Nottingham Forest – and it was the same story at RB Leipzig.
City had been in total control in the opening 45 minutes yet only had Riyad Mahrez’s goal to show for it.
“You expect us to come here and win 5-0? That is not a reality,” Guardiola told BT Sport after the game. “This is a competition that in the group stage many important teams are out. It is difficult. We are a good team and we do many, many good things. We continued to do this. — BBC Sport.
Online Reporter