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Manchester City's Pep Guardiola has divulged how his team plans to tackle the threat of Vinicius Junior against Real Madrid
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has outlined how his side plans to deal with the threat of Real Madrid’s red-hot Brazilian forward Vinicius Jr. ahead of the sides’ meeting in the UEFA Champions League.
Guardiola aiming to avoid last year's errors with Vinicius
Manchester City and Real Madrid meet in a repeat of last year’s UEFA Champions League semifinals, and Guardiola believes that he has learnt from the past fixture, outlining a plan to curb the influence of Los Blancos’ Brazilian forward Vinicius Junior.
In last season’s tie, Vinicius scored an outrageous solo goal at the Etihad Stadium to keep Real Madrid in the game when Manchester City threatened to blow them away, and Guardiola is keen to avoid a repeat scenario, as the Brazilian has continued in good form since then,
This season, Vinicius has contributed directly to 44 goals in 50 appearances, more than any other Real Madrid player, with 22 goals and 21 assists in all competitions, and will be looking to help Los Blancos to a second UEFA Champions League final when he plays against Manchester City.
Guardiola to handle Vinicius like Salah or Mane
Guardiola, however, has taken special notice of Vinicius in the build-up to the match, recognising him as a titular character for Los Blancos.
Speaking ahead of the match, Guardiola said, “Vinicius is a player who sinks you every time they can link with him. They repeat a lot. He has a lot of protection because their players have experienced similar situations. It’s good news if we get close to him.”
When asked how he plans to stop Vinicius from deciding the tie, Guardiola said, “We are going to pay special attention to him. It’s the same thing we do against Salah, Mane, with each team…we’re not naïve.”
He also noted that they would not be focusing their attention on only Vinicius, but also on Real Madrid’s other danger-men.
“We don’t think about how handsome we are and it doesn’t matter what Madrid does,” Guardiola said, continuing, “There’s also Benzema, Rodrygo… and what I like the most, their associative capacity, they are comfortable on ball. They link together and it’s difficult to take it away from them.”
Both Guardiola and Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti will be aiming to create Champions League history as Guardiola will appear in a 10th UCL semifinal, while Ancelotti aims for a fifth title.
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