You wait all season for a Rodri replacement to emerge and then three come along at once. In the biggest game of the lot.. The pre-match build-up was all about Rodri, the man who couldn’t play but has managed to single-handedly rile the whole of the Real Madrid organisation – from president to manager to squad and especially the fanbase.. City fans responded with a brutal message before the game. Stop Crying Your Heart Out. Rodri took in the banner in the South Stand from his place just above the bench.. But after that, it was all about how City would approach the defending Champions League champions without the best player in the world. The answer – roll it back to 2023.. With Pep Guardiola naming five central defenders in his line up – it was a return to John Stones as the designated midfielder with Guardiola reversing on his assessment a fortnight ago that Stones couldn’t be relied upon there.. With Stones as a six, City lined up in possession with Manu Akanji and Josko Gvardiol tucking in alongside him to make an unorthodox 2-3-4-1 formation with the ball. Out of possession it reverted to a good old 4-4-1-1, but this felt more like how Guardiola wanted his team to look without Rodri, he just hasn’t had the personnel available until this point.. And with City looking to contain and crowd the midfield, it was perhaps telling that nine of the starters here were in the Champions League final XI in 2023. Seven started the 4-0 demolition of Real Madrid at the Etihad that year and eight the first leg draw at the Bernabeu. In short, Guardiola was looking for his experienced players to keep it tight in this first leg and take a positive result to Spain.. In Akanji, supported by Stones and Dias, City kept Vinicius quiet in the first half. It felt like a more comfortable right-back solution and the formation worked a treat in keeping Real’s formidable front four out of the game.. The centre-backs had enough bodies to crowd out Mbappe as they kept the game narrow, and Rodrygo was shackled by the impressive Josko Gvardiol. He made the opening goal, too, adding a sprinkle of 2024/25 to the 2023 playbook.. But this isn’t 2023 anymore.. Jack Grealish was first to go off hurt as his nightmare run of injuries since the treble continued, and Akanji followed him at half-time. By the hour mark, just as Mbappe got Madrid level, Rico Lewis was being targeted at right-back and Stones was back in defence with Mateo Kovacic on.. It looked like Guardiola had finally found his perfect system to manage without Rodri, and to a lesser extent, Kyle Walker. But then the injury curse returned and Guardiola must go back to square one. The revolution lasted just 59 minutes.
