After a 3-0 defeat at the Bernabéu in the UEFA Champions League last 16 first leg, Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said, “our game wasn’t bad enough to lose 3-0. Madrid’s? If you win 3-0…” and also assessed Manchester City’s chances by saying, “we’ll try, but we know the chances are quite slim. It’s difficult to get away with it, but we’ll try with our fans behind us. We can do better”.
Guardiola on the 3-0 scoreline
“The result is clear, there are 90 more minutes to go. I feel like it wasn’t that bad. They had three chances
in the first half and scored three goals. They always have that feeling of transition. But we got to the back line many times, also in the second half. The final pass was missing, they defended well, very solidly. We started well. Now it’s time for dinner, rest and we’ll start cheering ourselves up.”
Guardiola on what was missing
“When you reach the goal line and you have four or five people in the area, it’s a matter of a good pass. And we had them. If we score, we cheer ourselves up… We lacked that final moment. Maybe in a while I’ll watch it and I won’t like it, but I feel like it wasn’t that bad.”
Guardiola on the penalty miss
“With three goals it’s difficult, imagine with four. But we’ll have our fans, let’s see what we can do to surprise them.”
Guardiola on Fede Valverde
“He’s a fantastic player. He plays several roles and has scored some great goals.”
Guardiola on the result reflecting the game
“Madrid deserved it. They have Güler, Vinicius, Valverde, Tchouameni… They’re a very talented team. They cut off a lot of our transitions. We played much better in the second half. We created a lot of chances in the second half to get a more positive result.”
Guardiola on whether he felt helpless
“I don’t have that feeling of helplessness. We didn’t create any chances where Courtois had to intervene. But how many times did we get into the six-yard box and lack the final pass… When you do that, it means you’ve done the process right. We don’t feel that Courtois had a great game. We lacked that detail. If we’d managed that, we would have scored a goal.”
Guardiola on preventing Real Madrid’s transitions
“In the first 15 minutes, it wasn’t a question of changing. The goal was the fourth long ball that Courtois played to Valverde, but we didn’t measure the distances. Madrid play well, they’ve always played well. It’s my 50th game against Madrid as a player and coach and it’s always been… When you put them under pressure and dominate them, they can always come back. My feeling is that we haven’t been that bad, but with this result that feeling doesn’t carry much weight.”
Guardiola on whether he was surprised by Arbeloa’s approach
“Yes, they played with five at the back and no fixed striker. We tried to get Rúben Dias and Guehi further up. They were good counter-attacks and showed the players’ skill.”
