Striking: Pep Guardiola brought in star players Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne early against Real Madrid. As a result, Manchester City could not rely on its two best penalty takers in the lost penalty series.
READ ALSO. End of story for De Bruyne and Doku: Real is the coolest in the penalty kicks and advances to the Champions League semi-finals at the expense of Man City
Haaland was replaced at the start of the first extra period, De Bruyne went off deep into the second extra time. “But they asked for it themselves,” Pep Guardiola said at the press conference after the match. “Just like Manuel (Akanji, who was also replaced, ed.), they could not continue,” he referred to the problem with his two star players. “They played great and I’m not a big fan of a lot of substitutions, but Kevin, Erling and Manu all asked me to be substituted.”
Painful, because Matteo Kovacic – who had come on for De Bruyne – then missed his penalty. Earlier, Bernardo Silva had also kicked a ball straight into the arms of Real goalkeeper Lunin, but Guardiola did not want to throw a stone at anyone. “Bernardo is a reliable player,” he said. “He wanted to take that penalty and decided to kick it like that. It is what it is.”
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– 2024-04-18 16:29:49
