There was an exciting revelation at the end of Manchester City's decisive victory over Atlético Madrid on Tuesday. With Jack Grealish on the floor Corngel Correa hit the ball in the face of No. 10. It was touchline. That was the case with Pep Guardiola. And the Manchester City manager didn't like it at all.
So: he entered the arena and shoved Correa. He clung to his player. Bravo. You may also have been booked or fired. But Istvan Kovacs ignored the 51-year-old and booked Correa.
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However, here are the poker players they call "tell" and the collector thing as Guardiola recently played, similar to zen from this time last season. Yes, he still seems to be teasing the touchline or bringing down the mother and father of the perpetrators, say, Raheem Sterling (usually Sterling) right after the striker completed City's latest goal. Or give John Stones or Aymeric Laporte an unexpected lesson about a different geometric back play they should apply when they enter the arena.
However these times are reserved for his players. Gone are the days when the head coach could not control his team and he also put him in danger (some might say he is contemptuous) and NCT journalist Damian Johnson following a 2-1 win over Burnley in January of his first season with City 2017. Two weeks later came the admission "maybe I'm not good enough" to City the night before the 2-2 draw at Tottenham. And after that result showed even more controversy when another NCT journalist - Guy Mowbray - was challenged, bizarrely, “the first question about the referee? It's the BBC - the BBC is famous. "
Guardiola has been calm ever since. Three Premier League titles, a 100-point record, a home-based treble and a remake of how the game is released in this department - with a goalkeeper as a deep planner, for example - are the main reasons why.
It meant that last year when City came face-to-face with a critical point after a 1-1 draw with West Brom in December that left them trailing Liverpool by eight points, Guardiola's silence allowed him to reorganize the system (actually, pass over, slow down to catch the ball) and win games. -15 made his team reach the top.
Seeing Guardiola mingle with Correa on Tuesday night, in the beautiful Etihad Stadium, was instructive. What a defensive manager it should be and, if he goes the distance, this is the quarter-final of the Champions League and the numbers are high. But, he has to be careful. Asked about the incident later, Guardiola dismissed it as saying his players would have to calm down for Wanda Metropolitana. This also applies to him. The sight of Guardiola, right after his humiliation, removing the angry Grealish was ridiculous.
City are currently in a turbulent, unplanned period for the Guardiola project. Following this first leg, Liverpool are Sunday's guests in a tournament that could define the destination of the title. Jürgen Klopp's side come from behind with a total of 30 games. This is the first of eight competitions. Stones, who was signed by Guardiola in his first summer of 2016 and thus a veteran of the City's successful campaigns, dismisses the decision.
"I don't think so," the defender said. "Obviously it's an important game, we're the first and second on the table - everyone knows that. This week is important for us in the way we prepare and stay calm because we have been in situations like this before. Three years ago it went down to the last game [defeating Brighton to become a champion]. So we’ve been in these situations before and the experience at the time we learned from it. ”
The Stones have a point but if anyone wins at the Etihad confidence and level of momentum will go awry. The second meeting with Liverpool is aimed at the FA Cup semi-finals on Sunday but before that it is the leg of the return to Madrid. Guardiola says City are going there to win despite a 1-0 win but there is another surprising conspiracy to stick or twist.