Arbeloa takes aim at Guardiola

It was the primary conflict between Alvaro Arbeloa and Pep Guardiola. A novice coach within the methods of excessive competitors and who was stepping for the primary time within the knockout phases of the Champions League. However, a coach who modified the historical past of soccer, who has received three Champions League and for whom the knockout phases of this competitors are a daily process.

From this equation of unequal strategy, the Actual Madrid coach emerged as absolutely the winner. Regardless of the large variety of absentees in his squad, his group crushed Pep Guardiola’s aspect and travels to Manchester with a powerful 3-0 lead. A scoreline that nobody has been in a position to overturn towards Los Blancos in European competitions.

What regarded like a tough evening for Madrid, particularly after seeing the staging and the gallops of Doku, modified radically after Valverde’s first purpose. From that second on, Madrid received in each inch of the sector. Their goalkeeper was higher, their defence extra forceful, their midfield extra dependable and their assault extra lucid.

The debut of the duels between Arbeloa and Guardiola ended with a transparent superiority for the Madrid coach. His group interpreted the sport as greatest they may. However, all the pieces Pep tried to alter his group’s darkish evening had no impact.

Nobody has ever come again from 3-0

The defeat on the Bernabeu, towards a group that Barcelona had underneath management with Guardiola, extends his poor ends in Spain since he left as Blaugrana coach. It’s 4 wins in 14 video games towards LaLiga groups.

Now the battle turns right into a sport of chess for the Etihad, wherein all of the profitable strikes are on Arbeloa’s record.

Guardiola faces a process that nobody has ever overcome: to overturn a three-goal deficit towards Madrid. There have been those that got here shut, similar to Dortmund and Klopp in 2013-14, however Madrid survived the scare and went on to turn out to be champions.