"Guardiola deprived City and their fans of the Champions League" says Lothar Matthäus
Matthäus joined the criticism of the City manager's experiment in the final against Chelsea and feels that Guardiola threw away any chance of winning the game.
Just days after Pep Guardiola's Manchester City lost the Champions League final to Chelsea, the Catalan coach continues to receive criticism for his gameplan. The latest to point the finger at the coach was Lothar Matthäus, in his column for Sky Germany. The Bayern Munich legend wrote that Guardiola got his tactics all wrong in the final - the furthest City have ever got in the tournament and the manager has to take responsibility for his mistakes: "With his starting line-up he basically stole the Champions League from the club and the fans and now he must listen attentively to all of the harsh criticism he's getting from all sides," he wrote.
Matthäus slammed Guardiola for experimenting in such a key game, by fielding a team without a defensive midfielder or a striker, while playing with two wingers in a departure from his usual system. The chance to finally deliver the Champions League was missed and now Pep has gone 10 years without success in a competition he last won with Barça.
The former Germany captain believes that losing the final will have grave consequences for Guardiola: "I'm sure that there will be internal discussions about whether he should continue and now the players will have doubts about him after the choices he made in that final," Matthäus warned. He added that Guardiola took a huge risk with such a ridiculous line-up: "How on earth can you play without a defensive midfielder in the most important game in the club's history? Dispensing right at the last minute, with a player who has played practically every game of the season - a player who gives the team balance and the other players the security they need? He went with a hare-brained plan at the worst moment possible, and for that, he deserved to lose".