Pep Guardiola has explained why Erling Haaland had a quiet evening during Manchester City’s 1-1 draw with Real Madrid.
On Tuesday City and Real Madrid shared the spoils at the Estadio Santiago Bernabeu in what was an entertaining first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
City largely controlled the opening 45 minutes, but went into half-time a goal down after Vinicius Junior rifled a long-range effort past Ederson.
Real Madrid asserted themselves more in the second half and appeared to be in the ascendency, but Kevin de Bruyne drew City level with a thunderous strike of his own.
While not like the end-to-end thriller the two sides played out at the Etihad Stadium last season, the match was just as fascinating from a tactical perspective.
Over the 90 minutes both sides swapped between periods of dominance and defence, but one constant was how Madrid managed to keep Erling Haaland largely quiet.
A quiet night for Haaland
The Norwegian striker went into the match having scored 51 goals in 44 appearances this season, but on the night he managed just two shots on target, both comfortably saved by Thibaut Courtois.
Speaking to BT Sport after the match, Guardiola explained how Madrid nullified Haaland.
“The pockets, the distance between the central defenders and full-backs was occupied by attacking midfielders,” the City boss said.
“For [Luka] Modric, Toni Kroos, [Fede] Valverde, and there were twin central defenders close to Erling. It was not easy for him but he moved well, he had his chances.”
Guardiola was happy with his side’s performance, particularly as the 14-time Champions League winners made things difficult for his team.
“When we were better they scored, when they were better we scored.
“[It was a] tight, tight game, the semi-finals is always difficult. We had good moments, sometimes it is difficult with the quality they have on the ball.
“We started really well in the second half, then after five or ten minutes they got the game and we could not take it.
“They made a lot of passes in the left side, they were really good there. But after that we make a fantastic goal through Kevin, we had good moments, at the end they had a few chances. It was a tight, tight game.”
