Embarrassing! Man City pay price for Pep’s terrible tactics in shock Lyon loss

Pep Guardiola has pulled off some tactical masterclasses during his time at Manchester City. What happened in Lisbon on Saturday night was a tactical disaster.

For those that accuse the City boss of over-thinking Champions matches, this shocking 3-1 quarter-final loss to Lyon can now be considered Exhibit A for the prosecution.

After a perfect plan took apart the “kings of the competition”, Real Madrid, in the previous round, Guardiola got creative again, but this time got it horribly, horribly wrong.

Where City had been clever and clinical against the Spanish champions, in Lisbon they were flat and ponderous. There are no second chances in the truncated mini-tournament in Portugal and City don’t deserve one.

There was nothing over-complicated about Lyon’s tactics. They just looked to play the ball in behind City’s static back-line and punish their general insipidness ruthlessly. The simple strategy worked a treat.

Going out at the quarter-final stage for the third time would have been bad enough for a coach as highly rated as Guardiola, but to go out to a French side that finished seventh in Ligue 1 is just plain embarrassing.

The Catalan can point to tight decisions and an Ederson howler, but this was a performance so far away from being what was required, just when it was required.

Kevin De Bruyne is the only player who should escape the bitter criticism set to follow, as everywhere else on the pitch, there was a lack of courage, creativity and charisma.