Champions League: ManCity crisis: Boos and bloody nose for Guardiola

Manchester City is slipping deeper and deeper into the crisis – and coach Pep Guardiola has not only emerged from the next sporting setback literally scratched. After the 3-3 draw in the Champions League against Feyenoord Rotterdam despite a 3-0 lead, the star coach caused a stir with a bloody scratch on his nose and red scratch marks on his forehead and bald head.

He repeatedly grabbed his head and face during the game and accidentally injured it with his fingernail, as he described at the press conference. “I wanted to hurt myself,” Guardiola joked before leaving the podium.

A few hours later, the Spaniard wrote on social media that he had been surprised by a reporter’s question. It did not intend to address the very serious problem of self-harm. Guardiola also shared the contact details of an organization that people with mental problems can turn to if they seek help.

Guardiola on the final phase: “We are fragile”

In terms of sport, Manchester City had once again disappointed the evening before and were booed and whistled by their own fans after the draw. Guardiola could understand the reaction, as he said: “You are disappointed, of course we understand that. You absolutely have the right to show how you feel.”

Before the Feyenoord match, City had lost five competitive games in a row – and the draw also felt like a defeat. The English led 3-0 in their own stadium until the 75th minute before they conceded three more goals and lost the victory. This had never happened to a team in the Champions League before.

“We have lost a lot of games recently, we are fragile,” analyzed Guardiola, who is going through the biggest lull in results of his coaching career. “I don’t know if it’s a mental thing.”

Direct qualification for the round of 16 is in danger

According to the statistics service Opta, Guardiola lost a 3-0 lead for the first time in his coaching career; something like this had not happened to City since 1989. The BBC calculated that the club conceded at least two goals per match in six consecutive games for the first time since 1963.

Instead of climbing into the top third of the Champions League table with a win, the 2023 title holders remain in midfield and are in danger of missing out on direct qualification for the round of 16.

Liverpool, Juventus, Paris: “It will be very difficult”

And the next tasks are tough again: At the weekend, City will be visiting the sovereign league leaders Liverpool FC in the Premier League. In the Champions League, Guardiola and his protégés have to go to Juventus Turin and Paris Saint-Germain in December and January. “But I’m not thinking about that right now,” said the coach after the Feyenoord disappointment. “We have to recover and prepare for the next game. If we are not able to win games like this today then it will be very difficult.”