Leeds United take on Pep Guardiola this Saturday, and will be encouraged by what happened to Manchester City on Tuesday night.
The Citizens suffered a 2-0 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen at the Etihad Stadium as Manchester City slipped to sixth in the UEFA Champions League.
Guardiola named a noticeably weaker starting XI than usual ahead of Leeds visiting the Etihad Stadium, and Jeff Stelling has now criticised the new UEFA Champions League format for allowing the Spaniard to do so.
Jeff Stelling says Pep Guardiola lineup represents “everything that is wrong” with the UEFA Champions League nowadays
The Sky Sports legend has been left irked by the 54-year-old naming a weakened lineup, and feels the new UEFA Champions League ‘league phase’ format has allowed Manchester City to effectively throw some games in Europe to prioritise Premier League action.
Stelling – who is concerned about Leeds and the fixture list – wrote on X (previously known as Twitter): “Pep’s team selection tells you everything that is wrong with Champions League in this format – no jeopardy. City’s game v Leeds at weekend far more important!
“Pep could play any team he wanted knowing they will be going through to the next phase anyway. If that had been a knockout game do you think he would have started that 11? (New format being a) Breath of fresh air? Not for me.”
Who would you start up front for Leeds?
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Manchester City can finish 24th in the UEFA Champions League table – which consists of 36 teams – and still go through, so Stelling makes a good point.
Guardiola, who likes Lukas Nmecha, has to bounce back in the Premier League after a 2-1 defeat against Newcastle last time out, so he has quite clearly taken advantage of the new UEFA Champions League format to ensure his best players are fresh to face Leeds.
In fairness, Manchester City put themselves in a position to be able to do such a thing by winning three of their first four UEFA Champions League games this term, but Stelling has pointed out a clear flaw – in the old Group Stage format involving just six games, there would not be as much margin for error.
Leeds United can take encouragement from Manchester City’s European hangovers so far this season
Leeds are clear underdogs ahead of Saturday’s trip to Manchester, but one thing Daniel Farke – who could be sacked soon – can cling on to is the fact Guardiola seems to struggle after a midweek European game.
Stuart Dallas masterclass as Leeds beat Man City 2-1, with 10 men
After Manchester City played their first UEFA Champions League game this season, a 1-1 draw against Arsenal followed.
The second European fixture of the campaign saw Manchester City struggle away to Brentford and just come away with a narrow 1-0 win.
Then, Manchester City suffered a 1-0 defeat against Aston Villa just days after a 2-0 win over Villarreal, so Leeds could well be playing the Citizens at a favourable time.
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