Man City 2.0: How Pep Guardiola has transformed his side for Europe

With the clock at 89 minutes, Manchester City were inside Santiago Bernabeu with a 5-3 aggregate lead and a place in the Champions League final in sight. Then Rodrygo happened.

First he struck in the 90th minute, then the 91st, sending the game to extra-time, where Real Madrid would net a penalty through Karim Benzema to go through, dump City out and go on to beat Liverpool in the final.

'We were close. We were close,' a deflated Pep Guardiola said afterwards, processing another failed European campaign.

'But at the end, we could not reach. It is simple. Football is unpredictable, and sometimes you have to accept it.'

Now they meet again: another semi-final match-up, another chance to reach a final and step closer to ending their hoodoo on the prize they crave so badly.

This is a competition that Guardiola has failed to win since leaving Barcelona.

In the past there have been accusations that he has tinkered too much, tried to be too cute with his tactics, and paid a price. Losing in the final to Thomas Tuchel's Chelsea being a case in point.

But City, who actually won the first leg 4-3 against Real Madrid, look like a machine with a software update this season, running quicker and with ruthless efficiency.

Guardiola's box-three and double pivot, with John Stones stepping up into midfield, has felt like a game-changer in big moments and the brilliance of Erling Haaland presents Real Madrid with a different beast this time round.

Here, Mail Sport looks at what has changed for City from last season's semi-final heartache, and why they are even more dangerous to the tournament holders 12 months' on...

Haaland factor

There's a risk when looking at this to overthink it - much like Guardiola has in the past.

A key reason City are an even better side 12 months on is Haaland.

A phenomenon, put simply. The Norwegian is scoring a goal every 71 minutes - the best minutes-per-goal ratio of anyone in Europe's top five leagues this season who has played more than 200 minutes - and has racked up 51 goals and counting.

Twelve of those have come in the Champions League and given City were already a formidable side in this competition, adding the following season's top scorer and stand-out player in Europe is quite something.

It is fascinating too that with Haaland leading the line City have become much more clinical on big chances.

Data compared from 2018-19 through to this season shows City are at a five-season high of converting 48.4 per cent of their big chances.

Part of that is down to Haaland's machine-like efficiency but part of it is also the attention he demands opening spaces for the likes of Julian Alvarez, Riyad Mahrez, Jack Grealish, Phil Foden and others, to convert.

Even when he doesn't score, he provides the focal point of attack that, as good as Gabriel Jesus could be when on form, City just didn't have previously.

'Today Erling could have scored two or three goals,' Guardiola said after the 2-1 win over Leeds. 'He played incredibly well, in his movement and everything – how he fought for us. I like to praise Erling when he does not score.'

While there is - rightly - a lot of attention on how City will contend with Karim Benzema and Vinicius Jnr over these two games, the argument can be made that City possess the best finisher on the pitch, and how Real Madrid nullify him will make-or-break this match-up.

Haaland has more goals in Europe than Benzema and Vinicius combined and is enjoying the kind of purple patch that has him fearing nobody (and everybody fearing him!)

'We are not preparing a match to stop a player,' Real Madrid boss Carlo Ancelotti said this week, 'we are preparing to stop an entire team who looks unstoppable.'

He's right, of course, but Operation Stop Haaland should be priority No 1.

Stones' new role

Since Stones was thrust into midfield by Guardiola against Crystal Palace on March 11, City have conceded six and scored 29 goals in the eight games he's been used there.

Alongside Rodri, Stones is stepping up to form a formidable double pivot, effectively screening the defence but also allowing the chance to break the lines and hurt the opposition press.

In the word's of Oscar Garcia, a former team-mate of Guardiola's at Barcelona, his system tweak to push Stones further forward has the hallmarks of a Champions League-winning formula.

'Even for Pep Guardiola, when I look at Manchester City I can recognise more from our time together with Johan Cruyff at Barcelona than ever before,' Garcia wrote in the Independent.

'It might even be the winning of the Champions League.

'Back in 1992, when Barcelona were still waiting on their own first Champions League, Cruyff didn't just play his formation. He came up with a 'box' at the back, that had a brilliant technical player in Eusebio Sacristan at full-back. Eusebio was not a defender but his influence there completed the team, allowing such fluidity.

'It is similar with John Stones at City now, although he can defend very well. The system allows Guardiola's team to play comfortably with so much space behind them, while also releasing Erling Haaland.'

That combination of allowing for individual brilliance but also to open up pockets of space that throw off the game-plan of opponents is fiercely effective.

'John Stones's performances since the World Cup in that hybrid role for Man City have been outstanding,' ex-Liverpool defender Jamie Carragher tweeted last month.

'We have spoke for years about England having a centre back who can step into midfield & dictate the game.'

Real Madrid could look to the trusted pairing of Luka Modric and Toni Kroos, along with Fede Valverde or Aurelien Tchouaméni in their famed 4-3-3, which has served them so well.

But Stones' hybrid role, in and out of possession, will cause Madrid problems whether to press man-to-man, go zonal, or allow him time to use the ball.

Grealish on top of the world

All Jack Grealish got in last season's crunch semi-final second leg in Spain was a cameo off the bench, and nearly doubled City's lead on the night before he was denied by superb work from Ferland Mendy on the line.

This time round he is an expected starter who could light the game up as the best player on the night.

With a transitional debut season under Guardiola consigned to history, Grealish is flying right now and his campaign is, while not based solely on numbers, one of the biggest successes alongside Haaland.

Grealish has been remoulded and it's taken time - but now City fans can see exactly why Guardiola has been so patient with the £100m man.

Since the World Cup Grealish has been dynamite off the left and is playing both sides of the ball, showing a willingness to track back as much as flood forward and that is why he is getting the nod over England team-mate Phil Foden.

Grealish, by his own admission in his exclusive interview with Mail Sport's Ian Ladyman, simply had to get over being starstruck to hit the next level.

'I was a bit in awe of being here, a bit shy,' Grealish said.

'Not, like, in my personality but on the pitch. People would shout, "Jack, pass!" and I would be, "F***ing hell it's (Kevin) De Bruyne, I had better pass it to him". You know what I mean? He had been my idol.'

Grealish's buy-in is impressive and it offers such a dangerous weapon off the left for City.

Nullify Haaland and you've got Grealish to deal with, then De Bruyne, and Stones can break from deep, and then there's Riyad Mahrez, and on and on it goes.

It was after a Champions League game in the previous round that Grealish's professionalism stood out.

As City arrived back in Manchester from Munich, Guardiola noticed Grealish heading to the training ground to work on his fitness, rather than go home.

'The main thing now is I feel loved,’ he added in his chat with Mail Sport. 'I feel the manager really trusts me. At Fulham last weekend I didn't have my best game. But Pep kept me on, trusting me. He was telling me, "Jack, get hold of the ball, keep it, win fouls". So you go home and feel happy.

'This is what I dreamed of. To play in every game for such an important team at such an important time.'

Real Madrid: be warned.

Flexibility to go with back 3

As mentioned earlier in the tweak to Stones' role, Guardiola's impressive use of three-box-three has been something to behold.

The shape, which uses three centre backs, two defensive midfielders and two No 10s, to make a box, continually opens up easy passing lanes and line-breaking opportunities for City, with overloads in midfield commonplace as a result.

The home win over Liverpool was a good example of the system - which also includes wing-backs, typically wingers in Guardiola's case, and a No 9, more often than not it's Haaland - in full flow.

Liverpool's back four and midfield two found themselves outnumbered by City's seven, with Ilkay Gundogan and De Bruyne dropping in for overloads as the No 10s.

It successfully negates either a zonal marking approach or a man-to-man, with opposition attackers drawn out of position by the No 10s or someone like Stones, opening up passing lanes to keep possesion and dictate play.

Against a Liverpool side that, by manager Jurgen Klopp's own admission have been in 'crisis' this season, is one thing but reigning European champions Real Madrid is another.

Which raises the question, do they go three-box-three to match seven (back four plus three midfielders) for Real? Or do they mirror with a back four and focus on limiting opportunities out wide?

Pace of Walker effective to neutralise Real

The decision to resort to a back four - which City used so successfully against title rivals Arsenal recently - is another option for Guardiola which could prove a more effective stopper on Vinicius.

Walker has done well against the pace of PSG superstar Kylian Mbappe for club and country and few can beat the ex-Tottenham defender in a foot race.

Vinicius is rapid and one of the world's best in his position. Against Liverpool this season he showed his class and City won't need an introduction to his talents.

But it was also Rodrygo that tormented them last season and with Nathan Ake worringly going off injured at the weekend, it does serve up questions at left back, which may in turn push Guardiola into the three-box-three again.

As much as City have decisions to make tactically, Real Madrid know they can ill-afford a single mistake against a City side that is showing such ruthless efficiency.

Give them a headstart in this tie, as they did last season and they may not get another remontada.