From his 1-2 victory in 2020 in the round of 16, he links three visits to Bernabéu without winning, with a defeat and two draws
MADRID, 17 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola, seeks Wednesday In which he has not been able to win in his last three visits, a dynamic to break if he also wants to break his bad form with Spanish teams, his usual executioners in Europe.
The raffle of the ‘playoff’ of the Champions Department, for the fourth consecutive year, a Real Madrid-Mancheter City cross, a duel that, in the last three years, the competition champion has come out. In these last three qualifiers, the whites have advanced in two -in 2022 and last year -and the English in the remaining -2023-, a sign of equality between both teams.
And in these recent battles there is a common factor, and it is the rupture of Guardiola and the ‘romance’ with the Madrid fief, which for years was his ‘garden’. The Santpedor accumulates 12 visits as coach to Bernabéu, of which he got the victory in six, only one with Manchester City, precisely in the first as coach ‘Citizen’, in the first leg of the round of 16 (1-2) of The 2019-2020 campaign.
In the second, the 2022, was a victim of the ‘magic’ of the Bernabéu with an incredible comeback culminated in the extension with a 3-1 that trace the spectacular 4-3 of the first leg in Etihad and the pass to the final of the Real Madrid. The next two were in comings, both skipped with draws, 1-1 in the semifinals of 2023 and 3-3 in last year in the quarterfinals.
And his only victory with the City joins the other five during his career as coach of FC Barcelona, in his best stage as a visitor at Santiago Bernabéu. In fact, the Catalan coach never lost with the Catalan team in this stadium and added his first defeat in the Madrid fief in the 2014 ‘Semis’ first leg with Bayern (1-0).
His debut as a Blaugrana technician in Chamartín was in the 2008/2009 season, when he achieved his best result in the historic 2-6 that ended up meaning the league title for the Catalans. The following year he also won in the capital of Spain (0-2) and then came out in the two almost consecutive visits of the spring of 2011 in the Carousel of Classics with the semifinals of the Champions League, the league return and the final of the final of the Copa del Rey, lost in the extension 2-1.
However, he won 0-2 in the most ‘important’ clash, the one of the first leg of the penultimate round of the maximum continental competition, marked by the controversial expulsion of Pepe in a lance with Dani Alves and with double of Leo Messi, while he tied one in the league with the title already on track.
That same summer of 2011 he tied (2-2) in the Spanish Super Cup, while his last league visit to the merengue fief with Barça was on December 10, 2011 and resulted in 1-3 in favor. Weeks later, he did not fail in the Copa del Rey, with 1-2 victory in the first leg of the round of 16 to complete an undefeated cycle at the head of Barça in the fief of its maximum rival.
Mal Fario in Spain
But his departure from Barça brought irregularity of his teams in the Bernabéu, the epicenter of his bad form in Spanish territory when he has been a visitor in Champions against LaLiga teams. Especially, in his stage directing Bayern, when he crossed with Spanish teams in 2014, 2015 and 2016, falling eliminated in the three qualifiers.
In his first season in Germany, he reached the semifinals of the Champions League, a round in which the faces were seen with Real Madrid, also trained by Carlo Ancelotti and with Cristiano Ronaldo at the head of the ‘BBC’. The whites left Bernabéu with a short 1-0 at a return in Munich where the meringue team completed an excellent match and closed the tie with a blunt 0-4 to end up raising the ‘tenth’.
The following season, Bayern Guardiola’s executioner was ‘his’ FC Barcelona, led by Luis Enrique Martínez and with the ‘MSN’ as a trident, a team that would also be champion. In the first leg of those ‘semis’, Barça beat 3-0 at home, and fell 3-2 in the Allianz Arena, a favorable result for Blaugranas.
And in 2016, Diego Pablo Simeone won the game to Guardiola in a tie with very different styles. While Catalan faced his last option to lift the ‘Orejona’ with the German team, Atlético de Madrid acceded to his second final in three years. A ‘Maradonian’ goal by Saúl Ñíguez opted the first leg (1-0), and in the return in Munich El Bayern he won (2-1), but it was not enough to advance to the final.
In 2019-2020, already with Manchester City, Guardiola did eliminate Real Madrid, with two 2-1 in favor as a visitor and at home, and two seasons later, he also left Atlético de Madrid on the way, in quarters of Final, with a short 1-0 in the Etihad Stadium and a 0-0 in the Metropolitan Simeone. Yes he won in Spain, during his visit to Ramón Sánchez-Pizjuán in the group stage of the 22-23 season, 0-4 to Sevilla FC.