Pep Guardiola admitted his players “felt the pressure” of attempting to win their first Champions League as Manchester City suffered an astonishing collapse in Wednesday’s semi-final against Real Madrid.
Riyad Mahrez’s 73rd-minute goal had extended City’s 4-3 lead from the first leg, only for Rodrygo’s double in the 90th and 91st minutes to send the tie to extra time. Karim Benzema went on to score a 95th minute penalty to send the 13-time champions through to the final.
“We were close but at the end we could not reach it,” Guardiola said. “We didn’t play our best but in the semi-final the players feel the pressure that they want to do it. We were close. Football is unpredictable and like this and we have to accept it.
“Yes, they are sad. We were close to reaching the final of the Champions League. Now we need time to process and come back with our people at home.”
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On BT Sport, Rio Ferdinand praised Real Madrid for being “comfortable suffering”, but added: “The stadium took the life out of City. You saw the weight of history, the size of the stadium.
“Every single time this Real Madrid team pegged Manchester City back. They never seemed in total control. It wasn’t the convincing City.”
The fear for City, who lost last season’s final to Chelsea, is that they now have just four days to put European heartbreak behind them and prepare for a potentially season-defining game against Newcastle on Sunday. With Liverpool playing Tottenham the previous evening, Jurgen Klopp’s side will have had the chance to replace them at the top of the table by the time they kick off at the Etihad.
“It is such a distressing loss,” former Real Madrid defender Jonathan Woodgate said on BBC Radio 5 Live.
“What ramifications does that have on the league? They could blow up after this.”
Carlo Ancelotti said that “psychologically we were better in extra time”, and insisted he “didn’t have time to ever think we had lost the game”. Tellingly, though, he added: “I am really happy to be there in the final – but we are used to it.”
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“There is still a lot to play for. The fans have to play a part on Sunday, they have to lift this team. It’s been a long time since Pep Guardiola won the Champions League the first time, so I am sure this will be devastating for him.”
Why this will happen to City again
By Daniel Storey, i‘s chief football writer
There is always a drama with Manchester City. Ever since the frankly tedious exit to this same opponent at this same stage in 2016, they have embarked upon a series of inexplicable ways not to fulfil what their owners at least consider to be their destiny.
Think the twelve labours of Hercules meets It’s A Knockout: the mania of Monaco, the lament of Liverpool, the tardy theatrics against Tottenham, the limpness against Lyon and the carelessness against Chelsea. You cannot accuse City of a lack of variety. If finding reasons for not delivering on the biggest European stage was its own competition, they would play Paris Saint-Germain next month. As it is, add on the madness of Madrid.
This is not good enough; how can it be? The sweeping denunciation of Pep Guardiola for failing to win the Champions League without Lionel Messi gets a little tiring and often deliberately overlooks the domestic dominance he has overseen, but vast wealth is inversely proportional to your margin of error. Guardiola is not foolish enough to expect anything else.
There are little things that Guardiola will focus on. And little things that become big things and haunt him until next time this all happens again. Did he go too defensive by bringing on Fernandinho and Ilkay Gundogan? Why didn’t Jack Grealish pass the ball to Phil Foden, who had an open goal? But more than anything, he will reflect upon a team that, despite all of its riches and its brilliance, retains an unerring ability to snatch defeat from the jaws of victory in this competition.
Read Daniel Storey’s full analysis from the Bernabeu here
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