Pep Guardiola Gives Honest Verdict on Man City’s Chances Against Real Madrid
- Real Madrid took control of the UEFA Champions League last-16 tie with a 3–0 first-leg win over Manchester City in Madrid
- Federico Valverde delivered a standout performance, scoring a sensational hat-trick to put the Spanish giants firmly in the driving seat
- City will now look to respond in the second leg at the Etihad, with Guardiola opening up about the chances of the Premier League giants
Pep Guardiola has admitted that Manchester City face a difficult task reaching the quarter-finals of the UEFA Champions League following their first-leg defeat to Real Madrid.
Los Blancos secured a commanding 3–0 victory in the first leg of their last-16 tie on Wednesday night, with Federico Valverde producing a sensational hat-trick in the Spanish capital.
Source: Getty Images
Real Madrid nearly added a fourth goal, but Gianluigi Donnarumma denied Vinícius Júnior from the penalty spot, per GOAL.
The result leaves City with a huge challenge ahead of the return leg in Manchester next week.
City were knocked out of the competition at the play-off stage by the same opposition last season, and they now risk another early exit unless they can mount a major comeback on home soil.
Guardiola on Man City vs Real Madrid return leg
When asked about his team’s chances of progressing, Guardiola gave an honest assessment during his post-match press conference.
“Right now, not much,” he said via Metro Sports.
“Of course we are going to try. Now everything is more difficult with our mindset but we will be there, we will be with our people, we can do more to be better in the final third and we will try.”
City return to Premier League action on Saturday evening when they travel to face West Ham United, a match in which they cannot afford to drop points in the title race with Arsenal.
Real Madrid will then travel to the Etihad Stadium next Tuesday for the decisive second leg.
Source: Getty Images
A couple of Manchester City players spoke about the defeat to the media after the game. Jérémy Doku also reflected on the defeat, pointing to Real Madrid’s ability to punish teams on the counterattack.
“Against teams like Real Madrid you know that as soon as you lose the ball that they’re just waiting to play a counter attack and then they score,” Doku said.
“They scored three goals and then it’s difficult to come back because they played very defensively, but I feel like if we scored the first chances that we had it’s a different game.
‘[Donnarumma’s save] helped us massively, we’re still confident.
‘Obviously we have a game against West Ham before, but we trust our qualities and we know that at the Etihad it’s also a different game.
‘We’ll need our fans to help us and if they can score three goals why can’t we?’
Mysterious cat predicted Madrid's win
Earlier, YEN.com.gh reported that an oracle cat predicted the outcome of the Champions League clash between Real Madrid and Man City.
The cat chose the bowl labelled Madrid, tipping the prediction in favour of the Spanish giants.
Source: YEN.com.gh
