Hamann slams Pep Guardiola for trying to ‘win games on a tactics board’ for Man City

Will Ford
Pep Guardiola Man City

Former Liverpool midfielder Dietmar Hamann has put the boot in to Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola, claiming “you can’t win games on a tactics board”.

Guardiola’s side crumbled in the Bernabeu on Wednesday night, somehow losing the Champions League semi-final to Real Madrid having been two goals up in the tie with only added time to play.

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Rodygo scored two in two minutes for the La Liga giants at the end of the 90 minutes, before Karim Benzema won and converted a penalty in extra time.

It was a stunning comeback from Madrid, but the result has inevitably led to criticism being aimed at City, with Arsene Wenger blaming Jack Grealish for his lack of “fight”.

And Hamann has taken aim at Guardiola, believing the City manager is at fault for “taking the responsibility” from his players.

Hamann told Football Daily: “It was really heartbreaking. They led over the two legs most of the time, but then again they conceded five goals when Real Madrid hardly had a chance. Ederson only had four saves to make in the two legs.

“I always feel with Guardiola’s teams that he takes the responsibility off them and you can’t win games on a tactics board. Once the whistle goes the players have got to make decisions and not for the first time one of his teams made the wrong decisions at the wrong time.”

Hamann believes that Madrid won’t be able to “ride their luck” against Liverpool in he final, but warned the Reds that Carlo Ancelotti’s sides comebacks are “no coincidence”.

“They already had a few lives. Against Paris Saint-Germain in the second leg nobody gave them a chance, when Chelsea went 3-0 up no-one gave them a chance, and yesterday was the most blatant one where they needed two goals in the last minute and got it.

“[Luka] Modric said before the game that you don’t get into the last four of the Champions League by being lucky and I think they rode their luck this time and they certaintly can’t do that against Liverpool.

“I think Liverpool will probably rather play Real Madrid than City because we know what City is capable of, but you can’t take Madrid lightly because if a team comes back that many times it’s probably no coincidence.”

Manchester City Dietmar Hamann

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