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Pep Guardiola's Manchester City finally took their revenge against defending champions Real Madrid in the UEFA Champions League 2022-23 semi-final on Wednesday night at the Etihad Stadium. After being eliminated from last year's UCL at the same stage against Real Madrid by 6-5, the Citizens dominated the Spanish giants 5-1 to qualify for the final. However, an on-field heated exchange between City coach Pep Guardiola and star midfielder Kevin De Bruyne has drawn every fan's attention.
After playing a 1-1 draw at the Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg, Man City thrashed Real Madrid 4-0 in the second leg of their UCL semifinal on Wednesday. With the victory, the English giants will face Serie A club Inter Milan in the UCL 2022-23 Final on June 10 at the Atatürk Olympic Stadium in Istanbul, Turkey.
Early on in the second half, KDB lost possession to Eder Militao after attempting a potential pass toward Jack Grealish and the incident sparked a heated exchange between the 31-year-old midfielder and Guardiola, who allegedly asked the Belgian to pass the ball before losing the possession. De Bruyne appeared to yell at Pep and said, "Shut Up," which led the City manager to walk back to the bench.
However, in the 84th minute, KDB was substituted by Phil Foden and the midfielder went on to hug his head coach on the sideline, which showed the exchange was short-term and due to the heat of the moment.
Watch the video here:
Guardiola explains the incident with De Bruyne
Guardiola explained the incident involving the Belgian midfielder and told Spanish broadcaster Movistar, "At 2-0 we rushed a lot. Right after the break [Ilkay] Gundogan lost a ball, Kevin made three transitions that weren’t necessary and we rushed a lot when we had to do the opposite, sink them and turn them, sink them and turn them. But it’s normal. It gets close, you rush, and it has cost us more, although in general, we have had an extraordinary game."
Manchester City and Inter Milan will face each other in the UCL Final this year as the Premier League side stand a chance to win their maiden UCL title while the Italian giants could win their first title since 2010. Both the teams include a FIFA World Cup 2022-winning player in their squad as Man City have Julian Alvarez while Inter have Lautaro Martinez in their squad.
