Why didn’t Guardiola substitute? I’m too good a coach to decide what to do

Manchester City drew 1-1 away to Leipzig in the first leg of the semi-final. Pep Guardiola caused the biggest uproar by leaving the starting eleven on the pitch despite the unfavourable result and not making a single substitution.

Pep Guardiola could not take Kevin De Bruyne, John Stones and Aymeric Laporte to Leipzig. However, he still put together a strong lineup and even on the bench he had a selection.

In the first half, it looked like the Spanish coach picked a good line-up. The Citizens clearly dominated, had 74% ball possession, led 7:1 on shots and also scored a goal from Riyad Mahrez.

But after the change of sides, Leipzig equalised and started to threaten. Three dangerous chances weren’t enough of a warning for the Citizens until Joško Gvardiol equalised from a corner.

Manchester City visibly needed some momentum, with the fans looking to the bench for options. There were the likes of Phil Foden, one of the best Englishmen of the moment, world champion Julián Álvarez and Calvin Phillips.

Guardiola, however, remained silent. Erling Haaland, for example, was absolutely invisible and subbing for Álvarez was on offer, as was getting the great Foden in. However, the Citizens coach didn’t make use of any of the five substitutions, despite the visitors pulling out the short end of the stick in the second half.

(Not) substituting was logically a big topic at the press conference. Guardiola, however, answered it in his own way.

“I have the possibility to make five substitutions, but that doesn’t mean I have to make them. I’m too good a coach to decide what to do,” Guardiola replied in a sovereign manner.

At the same time, he admits that he actually sees the draw as a good result. “I didn’t have high expectations. I didn’t think for a second that we were coming here to win 4-0. We have to play for 180 minutes, I don’t want to lose here 4::3, 4::0. We have to be open in Manchester, that’s how it is,” added the Citizens coach.

“Overall, I am very happy. We don’t have a team that can compete with so many transitions. They’re better than us, they’re faster, except for Kyle (Walker) and Erling (Haaland). The rest of the team doesn’t have that kind of speed. We have to control the game like we did in the first half. We had chances from nothing, our chances were close to scoring two or three goals,” Guardiola concluded.

Source: MARCA