Manchester City was left with honey on its lips. The ‘citizen’ team tried it by land, sea and air. 33 shots in the entire game and it wasn’t even enough. Feeling of a certain frustration in the Mancunians… and also in Pep Guardiola, of course. He deserved his team more, but it didn’t come to him. After the duel, the coach was disappointed by the elimination, but with the feeling of having done a good job against a Madrid that did not stop competing.
“We have nothing to reproach ourselves. We have played exceptionally well in all facets of the game, but unfortunately we have not won…We created the necessary chances, but football is about scoring goals. Thanks to my players. This is a game of results. “They are in the semifinals and we are not…” said the Santpedor coach.
Pep Guardiola has little to reproach his players for. For the Mancunian coach, his team did everything it could to advance to the semi-finals: “As a coach I can only ask for this: to play as we have played, the times we have tried, how we have stopped their transitions… We didn’t ask ourselves to win 4-0. Nothing of that. We wanted to do a performance that allowed us to be ourselves. We’ve done it. Has it been enough? No, we’re out. In penalties, what happens happens. Congratulations to Madrid for their ability to resist and defend so well. We have not been capable of those small details, that small kick or last pass.”
Regarding whether his team lacked luck to eliminate Real Madrid, Guardiola made it very clear: he does not believe in fortune. “Johan Cruyff said that luck does not exist and I agree. We did not score a goal. We did everything to do so, but what a hell of a way to lose than how we did today. You can not always win. We’ve tried, what more can I ask of the players than to be us? I don’t know what we could do more,” said Pep.
The penalties did not smile either, where Manchester City failed more than their rival. However, for the coach, his team did a lot to avoid having to play for a place in the next round from the eleven meters: “Sometimes you can win on penalties and sometimes you can’t. But in the game we didn’t take advantage of the opportunities we had, even though we defended very well. “They all played at a high level.”
“I only saw one team”
Rodri Hernández was more upset in front of the media after the tough defeat against Real Madrid. The Manchester City defensive pivot once again played a great game with the entire team, but it was of no use to his team.
After the duel, the Spaniard also spoke to the media. While Guardiola pointed out that the team had done everything possible to win and gave credit to Real Madrid’s defensive line, Rodri was somewhat harsher with the rival’s approach. “To be honest, I’ve only seen one team on the field”declared the midfielder.
