Dortmund vs Man City: Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, can no longer dispute that his team has a penalty problem. On Wednesday night, it went wrong once more during the Champions League encounter against Borussia Dortmund.
Riyad Mahrez was eliminated from the game by Emre Can early in the second half at Signal Iduna Park. In order to exact retribution for his failure to score a week earlier in Copenhagen, the Algerian claimed the ball himself. But because his shot lacked force, Dortmund goalkeeper Gregor Kobel was able to make an easy stop. In the end, City suffered no ramifications from his error. It did result in a point loss, but a draw was also sufficient to guarantee the group victory.
In hindsight, Guardiola revisited the subject. Mahrez’s missed penalty wasn’t even close to becoming a situation. City has consistently performed poorly when given a penalty shot. The Citizens have accrued 80 penalties since Guardiola took over in 2016, of which 25 were missed (excluding penalty runs).
“We have missed 25 penalties since I have been here, the majority of them in the Champions League.” After the Dortmund game, Guardiola told the BBC, “That’s too much.” The Spaniard acknowledged that it was a concern that we missed so many penalties. “You always have to applaud a player’s daring to take a penalty,” he said.
Dortmund vs Man City: Pep reveals Haaland injury
“We need to get better. Details matter a lot in this competition, and these circumstances may make all the difference,” according to Guardiola. “Erling Haaland might have an answer. So far, the Norwegian has performed flawlessly from the position.”
Erling Haaland’s return to Dortmund on Tuesday was limited to one half by Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola. The Spaniard made a comment over the early substitution of the Norwegian striker following the game.
Joo Cancelo, a wingback for The Citizens, also sat out of the second half and was replaced by Manuel Akanji, a former Dortmund player like Haaland.
Guardiola said after the game that “Haaland and Cancelo weren’t in great shape”. “Erling has a mild case of the flu, I saw how exhausted he was. The same is true of Joo, who also developed a fever. In the first half, Erling also received a tap on his foot and was unable to continue. The medical staff expressed some concern,” Pep added.
Haaland did cross the field following the game to reunite with former Dortmund teammates. Guardiola says, “I watched him move more or less normally after the game; we have to look at his situation right now. Next Saturday, City will travel to Leicester City.”
