Pep Guardiola jokes about his ‘stupid tactics’ in Champions League

A defiant Pep Guardiola has joked about “overthinking” the Champions League knockout stage in the past with “stupid tactics”, but the Manchester City manager insisted he will not change his approach.

City host Atlético Madrid in Tuesday’s quarter-final first leg with Guardiola intent on leading them to a first triumph in the competition. They reached last season’s final but the manager was criticised for not choosing a recognised holding midfielder, dropping his regular left-back, João Cancelo, and selecting an out-of-favour Raheem Sterling, who had played only eight minutes of the semi-final victory over Paris Saint-Germain.

City lost 1-0 to Chelsea, with Cancelo’s replacement, Oleksandr Zinchenko, failing to mark Kai Havertz when the latter ran through to score the winner. Guardiola was also scrutinised for fielding Ilkay Gündogan on the left at Liverpool when City lost 3-0 in a last-eight first leg in 2018, playing a three-man defence before being eliminated two years ago by Lyon, and for dropping Kevin De Bruyne at Tottenham 12 months before, failing to score there and being subsequently knocked out on away goals.

Perhaps referencing these defeats, Guardiola offered a wry response to his critics. “In the Champions League I always overthink,” the Catalan said. “I always create new tactics and ideas, and tomorrow you will see a new one. I overthink a lot, that’s why I have very good results in the Champions League. I love it. It would be boring if I always played the same way. If people think I will play the same against Atlético and Liverpool [City’s next opponent], well, I don’t think like that because the movements from Liverpool are completely different than Atlético – especially because the players are all