MANCHESTER CITY
IS NOW THE TIME TO BREAK THE
CHAMPIONS LEAGUE JINX?
City boss Pep Guardiola is under
increasing pressure to deliver in the
continent’s most prestigious competition.
Eight seasons have passed since he
guided a team to glory – Barcelona in
2011 – which is an extraordinarily barren
run for such a visionary tactician.VALENCIA
DO “LOS CHES” HAVE ENOUGH
INDIVIDUAL STEEL?
In a recent 3-1 loss to Real Madrid
in the Spanish Super Cup, Valencia
came out second-best in every type
of one-on-one duel – defensively, in
attack, aerially – and coach Albert
Celades will have been especially
concerned at the ease with which
Real sliced his side apart.ATLETICO MADRID
WILL SIMEONE TAKE THE TOUGH
DECISION ON KOKE?
Atletico’s right-sided midfielder and
captain has been an integral part of
coach Diego Simeone’s masterplan
for years, but Koke has been struggling
to produce the goods this season. It’s
certainly not the Simeone style to do
sentiment and hard choices will have
to be made.not exactly sparkled of late in the
knockout phase.
Over the past two seasons he has
only managed a couple of goals at
this stage, and they were against the
relatively unfancied Besiktas of Turkey
in 2018. Now’s the time for the former
Lech Poznan and Borussia Dortmund
spearhead to step forward.
Two aspects of his sporting life
stand out above all others: the fact
that he is equally capable of scoring
with his right foot, left foot or head, and
the sheer professionalism with which he
approaches his craft.
Apart from standard training sessions
at Bayern, he puts himself through iron-
pumping sessions, uses meditation,
cycles and pays great attention to
nutrition. His wife Anna, a former
Polish karate champion, makes
isotonic drinks for him and he also
has a novel meal-time regime,
starting with dessert as the first
course and ending with a salad.
“I feel so sharp physically that
I intend to carry on playing at the
highest level for several years,” he
reveals – which is good news for Bayern
caretaker coach Hansi Flick who says:
“For me, he is the world’s best striker. As
a number nine you have to score goals- and he does that. To make it even
better, he leads the team superbly too.”
Visionary...Pep
GuardiolaDefeat...Valencia (in white)
lost to Real in the Super CupStruggling...KokeRun...he scored in
each of Bayern’s
opening 11 games
in the Bundesliga