Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola said his team made mistakes in the match against Real Madrid in the Champions League play-offs and were not stable enough to withstand the pressure.
City lost 2-3 at home to Real Madrid last night in the first leg of the Champions League play-offs. The home team made two mistakes that allowed their opponents to score late in the match.
"Players make decisions in the moment, sometimes it's successful, sometimes it's not. We don't have the calm to manage situations and it's happened many, many times. So think about it and maybe in the future it won't happen. Be brave and go into the next games," Guardiola said, according to Sky.
City took the lead through Erling Haaland in the 19th minute, Kylian Mbappe equalized in the 60th, and Haaland gave the home team a new lead in the 80th minute. The reigning champions equalized through Brahim Diaz in the 86th minute, while Jude Bellingham gave the visitors the win in the second minute of stoppage time.
City have not won their last four Champions League games in which they have scored the first goal and have conceded 57 goals in 38 matches in all competitions, three more than they did all of last season.
"Against Real Madrid it was tight. I'm quite honest with myself - we had chances and played quite well with the ball, but in the moments when we needed to regain possession, we couldn't hold on. We went into the last minute with a good result and we couldn't hold on. I've been here for many years and I've been part of an extraordinary team, an incredible machine, but right now I'm not able to give the team something that would help them cope with these situations. That's the truth," Guardiola said.
"The blame belongs to all of us, I have no problem accepting that this is not working the way it used to. It would be easy to blame one player, that's ridiculous, that's not how it works. We are all responsible, me first. The truth is that we are not stable enough in moments like this," added the coach of the current Premier League champion.
The return match will be played on February 19th in Madrid, and the winner will advance to the round of XNUMX of the Champions League.
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