Guardiola was Guardiola again after last Wednesday he transformed into Rafa Benítez during his Champions League trip to Paris. After the 4-2 defeat against PSG, the City coach came to his senses and made decisions that bring him closer to his essence. To begin with, he brought together Gündogan and Bernardo Silva in the midfield, so that between the two of them they could compensate for Kovacic’s disorientation – he neither wants it nor looks for it – and gave agility to the exits and speed to the associations. Guardiola continued by ordering his players to press the man, above, to try to prevent Chelsea from crossing the midfield line with the ball under control. With that alone, he emotionally and tactically channeled some players who needed to feel supported and brave. The momentum helped his team even overcome Khusanov’s disastrous presentation, which gave Chelsea a 0-1 lead.
3
Ederson, Matheus Nunes, Josko Gvardiol, Abdukodir Khusanov (John Stones, min. 53), Manuel Akanji, Ilkay Gündogan, Mateo Kovacic, Bernardo Silva, Phil Foden, Erling Haaland and Omar Marmoush (Kevin De Bruyne, min. 73)
1
Robert Sánchez, Levi Colwill, Marc Cucurella, Trevoh Chalobah, Reece James (Malo Gusto, min. 72), Moisés Caicedo, Jadon Sancho (Pedro Neto, min. 72), Cole Palmer, Noni Madueke, Enzo Fernández and Nicolas Jackson (Christopher Nkunku, min. 60)
Goals
0-1 min. 2: Nonso Madueke. 1-1 min. 41: Gvardiol. 2-1 min. 67: Erling Braut Haaland. 3-1 min. 86: Foden
Referee John Brooks
yellow cards
Abdukodir Khusanov (min. 3), Levi Colwill (min. 24), Moisés Caicedo (min. 57), Bernardo Silva (min. 78), Kovacic (min. 82)
He debuted under the auspices of a storm cloud Abduqodir Khusanov. The defender recently signed to Lens handed a ball to his goalkeeper and did so in such a bad way that he put it on a plate to the opponent’s number nine, Jackson, who passed to Madueke to open the scoring in favor of Chelsea (0-1). Minute two of his first game in England was passing and the Uzbek centre-back, barely 20 years old, with no experience at the highest level, felt the devastating pressure of getting into the eye of the hurricane that is devastating Guardiola’s team. His unfortunate action put the game uphill. If City pulled it off it was thanks to Bernardo Silva and also the good performance of Matheus Nunes as a right back.
An irruption by the Brazilian, who threw the diagonal, allowed Gvardiol to make it 1-1. Chelsea dissolved. After the break, Haaland made it 2-1 with the help of Ederson, and then Foden defined the 3-1 with class after Haaland served him a goal kick. With this, City placed fourth in the Premier classification, in the Champions League positions again. Follow the trail of Forest, third after being beaten at Bournemouth (5-0). Arteta’s Bournemouth now equals Chelsea with 40 points, one behind Europe.
