DBasia.news – Manchester City were only able to win narrowly when they hosted Real Madrid in the first leg of the 2021-2022 Champions League semifinal. This result in fact did not disappoint the manager, Pep Guardiola.
In the match that took place at the Etihad Stadium, Wednesday (27/4), Manchester City defeated Madrid with a score of 4-3. The duel between the two teams was fierce throughout the 90 minutes.
Manchester City got off to a perfect start after Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus scored in just eleven minutes. The Citizens also dominated possession.
But Madrid rose slowly. Karim Benzema scored a goal back to close the first half with the score 2-1 still in favor of Manchester City.
In the second half, the game was getting more and more interesting. Manchester City was able to score two additional goals. Unfortunately, their goal also conceded two goals.
This narrow victory made Manchester City’s position unsafe to advance to the final. Moreover, the second leg will take place at home to Madrid, next week.
But Guardiola has no reason to feel disappointed. He considered that his players had performed optimally against one of the best teams in Europe.
“It’s a fantastic game for both sides. We did a lot of good things. Unfortunately we conceded some goals and we couldn’t have scored more,” Guardiola said after the game.
Manchester City’s defense did not appear optimal in this match. Moreover, Guardiola was forced to play Fernandinho as a right-back after John Stones suffered an injury in the middle of the first half.
Even so, Guardiola seemed to really enjoy the duel against Madrid. He feels that this is a mental test for his squad to be able to embrace the Champions League trophy.
“I’m not going to complain about the result and I’m not going to complain about the performance of the players. I am proud and happy with the way we performed.”
“We did everything we could to win and had courage with and without the ball.
Now we are recovering and hopefully arriving well enough for the game against Leeds and then heading to Madrid.”