Contemptful Pep Guardiola has made a joke in the past about "excessive thinking" in the Champions League exit with "stupid tricks" but the Manchester City manager insists he will not change the practice.
City will host Atlético Madrid in the first leg of the quarter-final on Tuesday and Guardiola aims to lead them to victory for the first time in the competition. They reached the final last season but the manager was criticized for not picking up a well-known midfielder, dropping his left-back, João Cancelo, and selecting Raheem Sterling, who had played just eight minutes in the semi-finals. to conquer Paris Saint-Germain.
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City lost 1-0 to Chelsea, while Cancelo, Oleksandr Zinchenko, failed to mark Kai Havertz during last season's run to find the winner. Guardiola was also linked with a move to Ilkay Gündogan left-back Liverpool when City lost 3-0 in the first eight leg of 2018, playing defending three players before being replaced by Lyon two years ago, as well as dismissing Kevin De Bruyne. Tottenham 12 months ago, failed to score there and then were sent off for long-range goals.
Perhaps referring to this defeat, Guardiola has given the wrong answer to his critics. "In the Champions League I always think too much," he said. “I always come up with new ideas and ideas, tomorrow you will see new ones. I think a lot; which is why I have very good results in the Champions League. I like it. It would be annoying if I always played the same way. If people think I'm going to play the same game against Atlético and Liverpool [City opponents on Sunday], I don't think so because the movement from Liverpool is completely different from Atlético - especially because all the players are different.
Manchester City players were knocked down following their 1-0 defeat by Chelsea in last year's Champions League final.
City are looking to win in Europe this season as they entered the final leg last year. Photo: Matt McNulty / Manchester City FC / Getty Images
“Every player has a mom and dad and mom and dad give the players a different personality. That's why I like to think too much and create stupid tricks and, if we don't win, I get punished. Tonight I will take inspiration and do some amazing tricks tomorrow - we will play with 12 tomorrow. ”
Atlético's enthusiasm for using tactical errors and pressure on the referee was reflected in the 1-0 victory over Manchester United in the final round. Guardiola, however, respects the Spanish champions and has indicated that he will not be interested in using the same method.
"We will have to do the same to protect our position," he said. "I can't judge for a moment what they did, just try to get the result on Tuesday, and then go to Madrid [on the return leg]."
Guardiola pointed to the Premier League's 2-0 win over United. “I don't know what it is like to play badly. Bernardo [Silva] spent four minutes on the corner at Old Trafford [at the end]. Therefore, defend our position. That's all I'm here to talk about: what we're trying to play. I never judge rivals, what they do and what they try to do - they try to do it to win. "
Guardiola faced Diego Simeone's side three times - while in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich, losing to the final team in the 2016 Champions League semi-final.