The night of the brave

The match of the 180′ today will come to an end. The second part of Cholo’s plan against Manchester City. There, survive. Here, run. To qualify. Today’s at the Metropolitano is the night of the brave (follow the match live on AS.com). From Manchester, Atlético returned amidst a cloud of criticismdue to the ultra-defensiveness of his plan, It bites and João without moving from the crescent of the area against Oblak, two more defenders with a clear intention: to take to the grass what Guardiola already pointed out a week ago, before the first confrontation. “Atleti is capable of denying you what you are.” And that was precisely what Atleti did.

Deny City, constrain him, to return to Madrid with only one goal against and a dart from Guardiola: “In prehistory, today and in 100,000 years it is very difficult to attack a 5-5…”. When Guardiola’s Bayern and Cholo’s Atleti met in the semifinals (2016), the prehistory It was the grass of the Calderón. Dry, tall… A Simeone who, by the way, responded elegantly. “I will never criticize a colleague.” He speaks in the field.

And this second part of the 180′ match is played with their plates, their glasses and their cutlery. And the draw is no longer worth it. You need at least two goals to pass. The idea, the approach, the ambition will be others. The game. And with your audience. That both the club and the coach hope that everything is complete, and not 5,000 lessas on Monday UEFA punished for “the discriminatory conduct of its fans” in the first leg (last night the TAS had not yet ruled; whether there will be a precautionary measure or not).

Ups and downs

A duel for which Guardiola recovers two key menwho were not in the first leg: Ruben Dayswhat did not play according to Pep, for having only trained his legs after a month and a half stopped, and Walkerwho already played against Liverpool in the first (and whose presence in the right lane will return Cancelo to the left). The latter party is part of Cholo’s plan. It was a title match. The red to a point of those of Guardiola. An intense game, with a lot of wear and tear… Only three days before the one in Madrid. Cholo will also play with that. Guardiola’s plan is the essence of him. The possession. The duel against Liverpool ended 2-2 but with an exhibition by the citizens. The English are looking for their second consecutive Champions League semifinals, the second with Guardiola, finalist last year.

The loss of Gabriel Jesús (sanction) opens the door for Foden, the footballer whose entry blew up Cholo’s board in the first leg. Along with that untouchable piece, De Bruyne, the total footballer, scorer in the first leg. Another one is Rodrigo.. The game will be his first return to what was his youth academy and then his home, but only for one year (2019): he left it when he received the call from Guardiola.

Simeone will not have that good news in his eleven. Neither Herrera nor Giménez arrive, they wanted to force but the body does not give. Llorente returns to the right lane. The doubt is in the left, if Lodi or Carrasco, and in the center, if Lemar or De Paul. The rest, of course: It bites and João will be the couple above. The Portuguese has six goals in the last eight games, he is all light. The Frenchman, dry the last nine, already knows what it is to lead a comeback on a European night. And this one, today, is one of those, one of the big ones. The first of a Champions League quarterfinal at the Metropolitan. The one that everyone wants to play. Especially the brave.