Pep Guardiola was visibly drained after watching his Manchester City aspect eke out a 1-1 draw away to Champions League holders Real Madrid within the first leg of their semi-final within the competitors on Tuesday, stating that his staff need to be taught to ‘defend higher and assault higher’.
Kevin De Bruyne cancelled out Vinicius Junior’s spectacular opening purpose with a devastating blast of his personal halfway by the second half. City began on prime however Eduardo Camavinga breezed by the guests’ press earlier than laying the ball off for Vinicius’ scorcher.
After a minimalistic opening 45 minutes, Madrid turned extra expansive after the break, stroking the ball round just for De Bruyne to pierce the hosts’ ascendancy. Both groups reconvene for the second leg on the Etihad on Wednesday 17 May.
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Guardiola succinctly summed up the competition with one line when talking to BT Sport: “When we were better they score, when they were better we score.”
The breathless Catalan coach continued: “It was a tight, tight game, Bernabeu semi-final is always difficult. We had good moments but sometimes it was difficult with the quality they have with the ball. But yeah, 1-1, it’s a final next Wednesday with our people next week.”
“We start really well in the second half as well,” Guardiola insisted. “Five, ten minutes, then after they got the game, we could not take it. They make a lot of passes, they put a lot of players on the left side, they are really, really good there. But after we make a fantastic goal from Kevin and we had some good moments. Then at the end they also have a few chances. It was a tight, tight game.”
Carlo Ancelotti’s side have struggled to stick with Barcelona in the race for La Liga but remain a force to be reckoned with in the competition that Real Madrid have won a record 14 times. “it is so demanding,” Guardiola gushed.
“TThey are so good, they have experience and quality. But now we travel to Manchester and we will see what we can do better. We you play these kinds of games it’s like a playoff, so the second [leg] you learn a lot from the first, hopefully we can learn to defend better and attack better.”
Outside of a handful of fleeting sights of purpose within the first half, Erling Haaland was stored on the peripheries of the competition. Guardiola defined how Madrid muzzled the ahead with 51 objectives to his identify this season. “The distance between the central defenders and the full-backs was occupied for attacking midfielders, for [Luka] Modric, for Toni Kroos, for [Fede] Valverde. So there was a twin central defender close to Erling, it was not easy for him.”
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