Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, spoke candidly after his team lost at home to Real Madrid, exiting the UEFA Champions League round of 16.
Pep Guardiola, manager of the "Cityzens" Manchester City, emphasized that the team still has three trophies to compete for despite their 1-2 home loss to Real Madrid, which eliminated them from the UEFA Champions League round of 16 with a 1-5 aggregate score. He pointed out that Bernardo Silva’s red card, which reduced his team to 10 men, was the turning point of the game.
Pep said, “We have the Carabao Cup final this Sunday, the FA Cup is still ongoing, and we still have the Premier League to fight for. Then we will prepare well for next season. We will come back; one game is not the end of the world.”
“My players showed incredible spirit. It’s very difficult to come back from a 0-3 deficit and then fall behind 4-0 while down to 10 men. It’s almost impossible.”
“Analyzing the game, I liked our approach early on. I wanted to play with 11 against 11, but in football, these situations happen. Madrid is an excellent team, and they punish you when you make mistakes. We congratulate Madrid.”
“The future is bright, and next season we will return. We will learn from this defeat. I see many good players and many positives. We scored even with 10 men and kept pushing forward. I’m very proud of that.”
“Thibaut Courtois is an outstanding goalkeeper. He played well in the first 15-20 minutes, but after that, it was 10 against 11, and it was tough. Ultimately, Courtois was the best player on the field. That shows how well we played. The feeling is, just let me have the chance to play 11 against 11.”