Pep Guardiola’s milestone Champions League night falls flat and he only has himself to blame | OneFootball

For Pep Guardiola, it was the miserable milestone, a dreadful way to bring up a century. His 100th Champions League game in charge of Manchester City ranked as one of the worst. And, poor as his players were, he recognised who was most to blame for that. Himself.

City were beaten by managerial complacency and their own lacklustre display as well as by a rather impressive Bayer Leverkusen side. As the teams third in the Premier League and the Bundesliga met, Guardiola picked his second-string side. They came off second best. It was a gamble that backfired. The regulars were rested when City’s next opponents are relegation-threatened Leeds, the decision to make 10 changes seeming needlessly odd. “Too many changes,” accepted Guardiola. “It was the first time in my life I've done it and it was too much. I take full responsibility.”

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Guardiola was punished after making wholesale changes (AP)

Now the consequences of a shock setback could involve a spot in the knockout play-off round that City had looked on course to bypass. “I don't anticipate what is going to happen in the future,” said Guardiola. He probably did not anticipate this. After 23 Champions League group-stage games without a loss, dating back seven years, Leverkusen emerged as the successors to Lyon, the previous conquerors of the Etihad.

It is now back-to-back defeats for City, fresh from losing at Newcastle. It could be consecutive losses in the Champions League, given their next game is away against Real Madrid. Suddenly, this phase is looking less of a procession for them. For Leverkusen, who struck clinically through Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrick Schick, it was further evidence of the transformative impact manager Kasper Hjulmand has had after Erik ten Hag’s brief reign was aborted with embarrassing swiftness. “This is a night to remember,” said Hjulmand. “Three points here at City is not something you can expect.”

Nor was the City teamsheet. If the intention was to prove they were not a one-man team, it delivered precisely the wrong impression. “Always I like to be too nice and involve everyone,” said Guardiola. A starting 11 that cost £350m produced a flat display. “Still I think the players that started were exceptional players,” added Guardiola. But his understudies were underwhelming. None grasped the opportunity. Guardiola, a three-time Bundesliga winner, seemed guilty of underestimating recent German champions.

Only Nico Gonzalez retained his place, and even he would not be a first choice if Rodri were fit. There was no Gianluigi Donnarumma, no Erling Haaland. Not initially, anyway. “We had weapons on the bench,” Guardiola said. He was forced to summon Phil Foden, Jeremy Doku and Nico O’Reilly at half-time, replacing the ineffective trio of Rico Lewis, Oscar Bobb and Rayan Ait-Nouri. After another 20 minutes, Haaland and Rayan Cherki came on. Omar Marmoush, prolific against German clubs for Eintracht Frankfurt, made scant impact against Leverkusen and made way for Haaland.

Enter the big man, a rare night off curtailed by the state of emergency. “We cannot play Erling every time for 95 minutes,” said Guardiola. Given 25, Haaland’s run of scoring in every Champions League game this season ended. Mark Flekken made a fine save when the Norwegian was released by Foden, just as the goalkeeper twice denied Cherki. The substitutes at least made a difference. The starters had left them too much to do.

Flekken was excellent and yet, for much of the first half, a spectator. He made a fine close-range save from Nathan Ake. That apart, Guardiola’s reserves fashioned too little of note in the opening 43 minutes. Then Tijjani Reijnders burst forward and Flekken parried, a Dutchman again denying another. Otherwise, that sense of nothingness before the interval had prompted Guardiola to turn to his bench. That, and the fact that Leverkusen already led.

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Alex Grimaldo thumped in the opener for Leverkusen (AP)

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Patrick Schick scored the second in front of the Leverkusen fans (Nick Potts/PA Wire)

Teed up by Christian Kofane, Grimaldo arrowed a shot past the Champions League debutant James Trafford. It was an eighth goal of the season from left wing-back for the Spaniard, a remarkable return from one of Xabi Alonso’s finest signings. Most of the talismanic figures from the 2024 team who won Leverkusen’s maiden Bundesliga title have left. Not Grimaldo. Captaining them in the absence of the suspended Robert Andrich, he also played a part in the second goal. Schick nipped in ahead of Ake to meet Ibrahim Maza’s cross with a glancing header. For him, too, it was an eighth goal of the campaign.

And if Leverkusen proved it is possible for a team playing 3-4-3 to win in Manchester this week, an injury-hit side also defended with great organisation. It was notable how few alarms they had, how much control they exerted. Their Champions League campaign began by going three games without a win, culminating in a 7-2 thrashing by Paris Saint-Germain.

Yet if City promised to be the other toughest opponents they faced, this was a spectacular scoreline for a very different reason. City are not used to nights like this. Nor is Guardiola. But while his team got it wrong, so did he.