Patience and subs pay off for Pep and City

For a man who won the competition twice in his first three years as a head coach, it's his perceived failure in the Champions League that hangs over Pep Guardiola's career.

His time at Bayern bought the expected domestic titles and even moved the Bavarians' style forwards but didn't bring home the big one. It's also eluded him at City, despite the brilliance of his team and the abundance of oil money from the UAE. Those snide whispers had clearly been bothering him in the lead up to Tuesday's quarterfinal first leg against Atletico Madrid.

"In the Champions League always I overthink. New tactics, tomorrow you will see a new one," said the former Barcelona boss, sarcastically on Monday. "I overthink and create stupid tactics," he continued. "Tonight I will take an inspiration and I'm going to do incredible tactics tomorrow. We will play with 12 tomorrow!"

Change comes off

In the end, his formation was unsurprising but any City lineup will always mean an omission for a top class attacker. This time, Phil Foden was one of those who missed out. But the England international came off the pitch as part of a triple substitution which unlocked a stubborn, resolute but entirely shotless Atleti side. Gabriel Jesus, Jack Grealish and Foden all arrived on 68 minutes, with the latter providing a sensational bit of footwork and through ball that allowed Kevin de Bruyne to rattle home the only goal of the game two minutes later.

Was Guardiola's decision to unleash Foden's direct dribbling against a defensive unit that had been chasing the ball for the previous 68 minutes a masterstroke? Or was the call to leave his two best one-on-one dribblers, in Foden and Grealish, on the bench to begin the match the reason City took so long to break the deadlock?

Take your pick, because no-one really knows. Elite coaches have to take dozens of these decisions every match, perhaps even more so than when they have as many options as the Catalan tactician.

"The guys were playing well but with Gabriel [Jesus] coming inside it gives us special energy and with Jack to keep the ball and the manager is so clever," said Guardiola, seemingly alluding to those who know best in hindsight. "When we make a sub it is because we think it can be a bit better. It works sometimes but other times it doesn't."

The waiting game

If Atleti display the paucity of ambition they did in the return leg, it won't matter.

"They played so defensively and they’re solid," said de Bruyne after the game to BT Sport. "They played almost 5-5-0 and it’s very hard to find spaces. I would recommend to anyone who says something about our performance to try it on the training pitch.

"In the circumstances we played pretty well. You need to be calm, patient, give nothing away and keep trying to find the spaces."

His strike ensured it's difficiult to find fault with City, who succeeded where many have failed against a streetwise Atletico side, who know how to win these ties. Despite Foden's sparkling cameo, City were unable to get a second and Diego Simeone has beaten the odds before.

Foden, for his part, has certainly made his case for selection in the Spanish capital next week. This one might not be one to overthink, Pep.