The latest ongoings at the training ground of Premier League champions Manchester City have turned heads back in Spain on Tuesday evening.
This comes after Pep Guardiola and his coaching staff utilised some clever tactics to keep upcoming opponents Real Madrid guessing when it comes to their plans for Wednesday night.
City, of course, are primed to play host to Carlo Ancelotti’s Real in a little over 24 hours’ time.
As much comes in the 2nd leg of the Champions League quarter-final tie between the two continental heavyweights.
After a pulsating 3-3 stalemate in Madrid last week, the matchup remains on an absolute knife-edge, ahead of what is expected to mark another thrilling encounter at The Etihad.
In the buildup to his side’s season-defining outing, it should therefore come as little surprise to hear of Pep Guardiola using home advantage to his favour.
As revealed by Guillermo Rai of The Athletic, Manchester City were scheduled to take to the pitch for training at 3pm English time on Tuesday.
However, the session was subsequently ‘delayed’ by an hour, with the Sky Blues having remained a no-show at 4pm, too.
By this point, the majority of the Spanish media presence in attendance were forced to leave, to cover Real Madrid’s pre-match press conference.
A simple coincidence? As much would seem more likely had the exact same thing not happened last year, when Los Blancos and City locked horns in the Champions League’s semi-finals…
Evidently keen to keep his personnel and tactical plans for Wednesday under wraps, Guardiola is pulling out all the tricks to keep his side’s favourite status intact…
Conor Laird | GSFN
