Guardiola who is Fighting his Fate

KOMPAS/FERGANATA INDRA RIATMOKO

Sindhunata

Before the English Premier League match between Manchester City and Chelsea, Pep Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel were seen talking to each other. Guardiola joked, Tuchel, the German manager, gave him tactics for the upcoming UEFA Champions League final.

What was Tuchel\'s gift of tactics? Guardiola was silent. In the 35th week, City was finally defeated by Chelsea, 1-2. Could it be that defeat was the tactic that Tuchel had given him? It could be, because in soccer, defeat is often used as inspiration for the next victory, even for Guardiola, a manager who can always take wisdom from his defeat.

And aren\'t Chelsea fans themselves worried about the win? Because it is not impossible that their victory precisely becomes the reason for City\'s rage to take revenge for their defeat in the UEFA Champions League final later.

From his experience, Guardiola once concluded, "If two teams meet several times, it becomes like a playoff in a basketball game. We do this, the opponent responds to it that way. Next, we\'ll answer it by doing something else."

Guardiola seemed to have done a clean rehearsal in the match against Chelsea before this prestigious final.

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"Chelsea has created problems for every other team. We have studied and now we know how it is now our turn to create problems for them. They have beaten us twice, congratulations for them, but the UEFA Champions League is a different competition and it\'s a final, just see what will happen."

Under Tuchel, Chelsea has become a very strong team. It can be said that its strength is the same as the strength of City under Guardiola. As it turns out, Chelsea was able to beat City twice in a row in a crucial moment in England, the FA Cup semifinal and the 35th week of the Premier League, when Chelsea had to defend its top-four position.

However, some observers have questioned whether it was possible for a team to win three times in a row over the same opponent, when the difference in strength between the team and its opponent is very thin, almost like 50-50?

MARTIN RICKETT / POOL / AFP

Manchester City\'s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola gestures on the touchline during the English Premier League football match between Manchester City and Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium in Manchester, north west England, on May 8, 2021.

Respect

Guardiola and Tuchel are two world managers and friends who respect each other. About that, there is an interesting story. In 2015, Michael Reschke, the technical director of FC Bayern Munich, brought the two of them together at a famous restaurant in Munich. The two managers were involved in a lively soccer discussion.

Tuchel then applied Guardiola\'s tactics again when he coached Barcelona seven years ago. He took a glass of wine, pepper and salt bottles, then on the table at the banquet he moved them, pushed them forward and pulled them back, as if he were playing and reevaluating Guardiola\'s ball game.

Reschke said he had heard a lot about soccer, but how Tuchel and Guardiola talked about soccer tactics that night, it was really special and extraordinary.

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In public, Tuchel did not hesitate to admit that he has followed many of Guardiola’s examples. Guardiola is a loyal student of Johan Cruyff, whose main characteristic of his game is to control the ball.

Tuchel openly wants his players to be truly excellent at controlling the ball, like Guardiola\'s game doctrine. Also from Guardiola, he develops his ball doctrine, namely "respect for fellow players in controlling his space; this also applies to anyone, also for players who are considered great".

In modern soccer, imitation seems legitimate and normal. Even former Bayern Munich coach Jupp Heynckes once copied Gegen-pressing from Juergen Klopp when he coached Borussia Dortmund. So, Klopp once joked, "In the ball, now it is common, just like what the Chinese make in the industrial world. See what other people have made, then duplicate it."

MIKE HEWITT/POOL VIA AP

Chelsea\'s head coach Thomas Tuchel embraces Chelsea\'s Jorginho at the end of the English Premier League soccer match between Chelsea and Everton at the Stamford Bridge stadium in London, Monday, March 8, 2021.

So far, despite their obsession with offensive play, both Tuchel and Guardiola have emphasized the importance of defense. At City, instructions are ingrained in the players.

"A strong defense can no longer be ignored, especially in big matches in the crucial and knockout phases. Chelsea does the same thing we do. They are so strong at the back and score so few goals. Maybe our final will be about who can do better against a team that will defend its defense at a very high level," said Ilkay Gundogan, City midfielder.

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Like Guardiola, Tuchel emphasized a very schematic game. Because it is schematic, there will be too many opportunities for improvisation. However, slightly different from Guardiola, getting closer to the opponent\'s goal, Tuchel lets his players be as wild as possible. At the back, it must be schematic, but in front of the opponent\'s goal, the scheme may "collapse" to confuse and plunge the opponent into chaos. He had already practiced this with PSG, but it was less successful because he only had Neymar. At Chelsea, that tactic works much better because he has many good strikers.

However, Tuchel has to be on alert. Tonight, Tuchel will not only compete with tactics but also have to face Guardiola, who is fighting his fate. Since winning with FC Barcelona in 2009 and 2011, Guardiola has never reached the final of the UEFA Champions League. With Bayern Munich, he failed three times in the semifinals (2014-2016). With City (2018-2020), he was eliminated in the quarterfinals; in 2017, in the final eight. He seemed destined by fate to never win again in the UEFA Champions League.

He is known as a coach who can always find and take opportunities from every game.

So, as soon as City confirmed its ticket to the UEFA Champions League final after overthrowing PSG, Guardiola raised his hands. He seemed to be staring at the stars in the sky. And he wanted to achieve it, while dumping his destiny all this time.

He is known as a coach who can always find and take opportunities from every game. However, in the UEFA Champions League, fate always seems to squeeze his chances at every opportunity. Will fate remain in power and be cruel to him this time? Or can he beat fate? This is the question in tonight\'s final; a magical question that is hard to answer when two great teams are in the final with a strength and a chance of 50 to 50.

Sindhunata, Journalist

This article was translated by Hyginus Hardoyo.