Pep Guardiola joked that Manchester City will play with 12 against Atletico as he leaned into his reputation for overthinking.
The Catalan coach won the Champions League twice in his first three years in management but did not manage to lift the trophy in three attempts with Bayern and has fallen on five occasions with City. Guardiola has developed an unwelcome reputation for tinkering with his team too much in big European games - most recently in the final last season against Chelsea where he decided to start without a holding midfielder for the first time in the campaign.
Guardiola has since admitted regret over the final, and their run past the quarter-finals last season featured a reliable XI that played in the same style throughout in a way that hinted City had found the consistency they had been searching for. However, the Blues boss insists that different players and different opposition deserve different approaches and so he will continue to think as much as he can about each match.
Read more: Man City boss Pep Guardiola slams 'stupid debate' around Atletico
"In the Champions League I always overthink," he said. "I always create new tactics and ideas, and tomorrow you will see a new one. I overthink a lot, that's why I have very good results in the Champions League. I love it. It would be boring if I always played the same way.
"If people think I will play the same against Atletico and Liverpool, I don't think like that because the movements from Liverpool are completely different than Atletico - especially because the players are all different. Every player has a mother and father and the mother and father give different personalities to the players. That's why I love to overthink and create stupid tactics, and when we don't win I am punished. Tonight I will take inspiration and I'm going to do incredible tactics tomorrow. We play with 12 tomorrow!"
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