Guardiola's tactics for Real Madrid win surprised City players, says De Bruyne - MW

Kevin De Bruyne said Pep Guardiola surprised even his Manchester City players with his tactical approach to win the incredible Champions League 16 first leg match at Real Madrid.

The city manager ignored Fernandinho, Raheem Sterling and Sergio Agüero from his starting lineup and used De Bruyne and Bernardo Silva as central attackers on the 4-4-2 map, with Gabriel Jesus working on the left.

It paid off, with City enjoying one of the best European victories in its history. Jesus equalized Isco's goal, which went against the match, before De Bruyne scored a late penalty after Sterling fell victim to Dani Carvajal. Real also expelled Sergio Ramos in the finals.

Manchester City won famous Real victory thanks to De Bruyne and Jesus
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De Bruyne said: I think during the four years that we spent here with Pep, we had a few surprises and even the players, they didn't really know until the match started what we should do. . It is a very good start for us. Our response [with the Iscoian objective] was excellent. We now have the Carabao Cup final against Aston Villa on Sunday and we have to be ready.

Guardiola praised the character of his players, who had to face the pain of a fraud club for two years banning European football for violation of financial fair play.

We can't control what's going on on the field, only on the field and the players want to do it, according to Guard Guardiola. These players want to do it for us and our fans. It is not easy for our club, but as I said, I am confident - I hope that the board of directors, the lawyers, can convince the Uefa that we did the wrong thing, just the nice things

I'm also happy to have won, as was the performance. It doesn't stop, if there is one team in the world that can overcome everything, it's Real Real Madrid, but for our people, hope that we can perform well and overcome. We have won nothing but winning here is a great satisfaction. We hope this helps us to believe in ourselves. We have to go to any stadium and play like we did tonight.

Real midfielder Casemiro said: Strong We played 75 spectacular minutes in front of a great team, then in just 15 minutes we did what we had to. This is why they retaliate and cancel our advance. We have a lot of work now, but if one team is able to overcome this deficit, it is Real Madrid.

MW