In a post-match interview following a 1-1 draw with Real Madrid in the UCL semi-final at Santiago Bernabeu, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola shared his thoughts on the game, including the team's mental focus, the overall team performance, the difficulty of semi-finals and Real Madrid's ability to keep Erling Haaland out of the game.
Vinicius Junior opened the scoring for Real Madrid in the first half with a stunning strike past Ederson, but Kevin De Bruyne saw himself grab an equaliser in the second half with a powerful strike past Thibaut Courtois. Man City will come back to Manchester level on aggregate.
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The difficulty of semi-finals
Despite the draw, Guardiola remained positive and noted the difficulty of semi-finals in the Champions League, especially to a side of Real Madrid's magnitude, as well as noting that the second leg being at the Etihad in Manchester can give a boost.
He said:
"Well when we were better, they scored and when we were better, they scored. It was a tight game - with the semi-finals it's always difficult."
"We had good moments and sometimes struggled with the quality they have on the ball. But yeah, 1-1 and the final is next week with our people. It will be a final in front of our people and I am looking forward to it."
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Man City's performance
Going a goal down before half-time was bound to have an impact on Man City, but Guardiola spoke about the team's performance, including their ability to bounce back after going down a goal after dominating the game in the early stages of the first half.
"We started really well and in the second half as well especially in the first 5-10 minutes, then after, they got the game and we could not take it."
"They put a lot of players on the left side and they are really good there. But after we made a fantastic goal from Kevin [De Bruyne] and we had good moments; at the end they also had a few chances, so it was a tight game.", he added.
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'It's like a playoff'
On the team's mental focus, Guardiola emphasized the importance of approaching these types of games as playoffs, providing the similarities of the two-legged tie and how you can take the first leg as a learning experience.
"They [the players] are so demanding! They are so good, so experienced, so quality, but the same so now we travel to Manchester and we're going to see who can do better so when you play these kinds of games, it's like a playoff - you learn a lot in the first [leg] and hopefully we can learn and defend better and attack better."
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Stopping Erling Haaland
Guardiola also spoke about the Real Madrid's strategy for keeping Erling Haaland out of the game, noting the importance of occupying the pockets and distance between the central defenders and the fullbacks, particularly how Ancelotti's midfield three nullified Man City's primary threat.
He said:"Yeah because the pockets and distance between the central defenders and the fullbacks was occupied for the attacking midfielder; for [Luka] Modric, for Toni Kroos, for [Federico] Valverde. It was a twin central defender close to Erling [Haaland] and it was not easy for him but he moved well and had his chances."
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Real Madrid in the second leg:
Finally, Guardiola shed light on how he believed the second leg could pan out and whether he believed the current scoreline will be enough to stop Real Madrid from being dangerous, and also emphasising the need to respect the opponent whilst maintaining a level of confidence.
"Well I rather 1-1 than 3-0 to Real Madrid. Obviously, I would have liked to win; there was an associative ability from Real Madrid that I have not seen in a while to get all players together on one side and then move to the other side - it was difficult to control that".
"In the first half it was good, in the sense that we came to [Santiago] Bernabeu in the first leg but we didn't have the aggressiveness in the last minute to score. We expect to adjust a bit in the second leg and I have an idea on what we need to do.", he continued to add.