Picture Credit: Twitter
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has opened up about his team’s recent heart-breaking defeat against Real Madrid. The Citizens entered this match up with a 4-3 advantage and also took a one-goal lead in the second half as well. But the Los Blancos came back to score three goals to seal their birth for the UCL finals.
Guardiola deemed the result as a difficult defeat. He said, “I have had defeats in the Champions League, I had tough defeats at Barcelona when we could not reach the final. But it is tough for us, I cannot deny that. We were so close to the Champions League final.”
“We didn't play well in the first half, we didn't find our game. The second half was much better and after the goal, we had control. We found our game but unfortunately, we could not finish. The players gave everything,” he added.
The Spaniard also talked about the missed chances which could have sealed the game earlier. He said, “We were so close. Before the first goal, we had two chances, one so clear with Jack (Grealish), which could maybe solve it.
“And at that moment we did not have the feeling that we were in trouble because of the way they attack. It happened, they scored a goal at the end. They have done it many times in their history, they put a lot of players in the box, like Militao and the strikers, and yeah, they found the goal,” he continued.
“It has happened many times in their history," said Guardiola “This will have a positive impact on the Real Madrid players but I don't know about us really. We didn't suffer much until they scored, but we didn't play our best.”
Sixth loss in UCL knockout games
Pep Guardiola has now lost six elimination games in the semi-final stage of the UEFA Champions League. While managing Barcelona, he lost in the 2009-10 and 2011-12 seasons. During his Bayern Munich tenure, he lost in 2013-14, 2014-15 and 2015-16 seasons. Last year as well Guardiola’s City lost to Chelsea in the final of the UEFA Champions League 1-0.