Ahead of the second leg of the playoff round, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola claimed that they will enter the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday with 99% hope and 1% chance. As it turned out, Real Madrid did not waste any time in erasing the 1% chance as well and left City with a mountain to climb at the halfway stage of the match. Kylian Mbappe struck a hattrick for Madrid and eventually, the tie ended in Madrid's favor with an aggregate score of 6-3.
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Pep Guardiola's Comments After Losing to Real Madrid and Crashing Out of the UCL
After enduring the thrashing from Real Madrid, Man City manager Pep Guardiola accepted the loss of his team and promised to put on a fight to return to the competition next year. Guardiola admitted that City could not match the physicality level of Real on the day. He also conceded the fact that his players did not defend well but attributed the exasperation of this loss to Madrid less in comparison to the previous seasons when they played well yet ended up on the losing end against the Merengues.
"We could not deal with the physicality, or the rhythm Real had,’ Guardiola said. ‘We accept it. We will fight to be here next year. We were so lucky to win this competition once and to arrive in another final.
‘We are not at the level at the moment. We didn’t defend well. In previous seasons when we were playing outstanding it hurt more than today.’
Further addressing the situation of the club, Pep shifted his focus to the Premier League and accepted that they are left with 13 to 14 matches to save their season.
‘Last week was hard to swallow but even with a good result I know how good they are,’ Guardiola added.
‘With time, the team and club will accept what it is and we have 13 or 14 games in the Premier League to try and be here next season.
‘Nothing is eternal. We have been unbelievable, and we have to try. We cannot win the league, and we have to be in the top four or top five to try to be here again. With the problems we have I was not able to bring stability.’
Asked if there was a change in the cycle of the team, Guardiola replied: ‘A little bit, yes, we have started to do it. Things are not eternal, there are players who have an age.’