Completely disoriented after his team’s 3-2 defeat to Real Madrid in the first leg of the Champions League knockout round on Tuesday, Pep Guardiola did not hide his bitter feelings. Speaking to the press, the Spanish coach stated that Florentino Pérez’s club is not normal.
Manchester City is struggling. In great difficulty this season, the English champions failed to beat Real Madrid on their own turf in the Champions League. Against a team that was significantly weakened, especially defensively, by Carlo Ancelotti, Pep Guardiola’s players got off to a strong start with Erling Haaland’s opening goal in the 19th minute. In the 80th minute, the Norwegian striker thought he had secured the victory for his team with a second penalty goal. But against Real Madrid, where the match is never over until the final whistle, things turned around.
Pep Guardiola’s agony after the match
Firstly, in the 86th minute, Brahim Diaz, who had just come on, took advantage of a lovely piece of play from Vinicius Junior to equalise against his former club, which had trained him. In the final seconds of the game, Jude Bellingham completely “chilled” the Etihad Stadium with another pass from Vinicius. Once again, Real Madrid performed a comeback in the competition they adore most, and one that they seemed poorly positioned to win this season, according to Opta Analytics.
Collapsed on the sidelines after the match that had just slipped away from him (3-2), Pep Guardiola could not explain his team’s latest defeat. “This has happened several times this season… several times… They’re just bad decisions, that’s all,” he confided to the Prime Video microphone.
“Real Madrid is not normal, at all.”
In the course of his media interaction, the Citizens’ coach did not hide his admiration for the man of the match: “Vinicius is an extraordinary player.” Now with his back to the wall against the Madrid side, which has never won at the Etihad Stadium, Pep Guardiola aims to rally his troops for the second leg next week.
However, he knows that it will take an abnormal performance, just like his opponent on the day. “Real Madrid is not normal, at all,” the Catalan coach whispered before continuing. “We’ll try to come back to Madrid, of course, but emotionally, this is a huge blow for us.” In any case, yes, Florentino Pérez’s team, which delivered a great performance on Tuesday with two players who had never played together in defence in a big match, is monstrous in the Champions League.
See you next week for the second leg at the Santiago Bernabéu. Be careful, nothing is lost for the Sky Blues, who have plenty of attacking options to turn things around and hope to reach the quarter-finals.
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