Manchester City were well beaten by Real Madrid in the Champions League, but Pep Guardiola does not believe the scoreline was a fair reflection on his team’s performance.
The Champions League can be a tricky competition and this is proving true this year, with Manchester City having now recorded three defeats.
Their most recent loss was the worst one yet, as Real Madrid were allowed to run riot in the first half at the Bernabeu.
Man City had more possession of the ball, but the hosts were better in pretty much every other area, resulting in a 3-0 thrashing.
Pep Guardiola claims Manchester City played well
There has already been plenty of criticism fired in the direction of Pep Guardiola after Wednesday night’s abysmal display.
However, the Man City boss believes his team were better than the scoreline suggests and he has even claimed they played a ‘good game’.
Guardiola said after the match (as documented by Simon Bajkowski and Fabrizio Romano): “I think we played quite a good game. My feeling about ourselves is we’ve done quite a good job but because the score is 3-0 that is a little bit useless.”
He added: “I have the feeling that it was better than the result says. But the result is here, we have one week, and at the Etihad we will see them”.
“3-0 is better than 4-0. Tough result, we cannot deny it… but we’re gonna try.”
Guardiola is in denial about Man City’s performance
It is important to give credit where credit is due and accept that Real Madrid were very good on the night.
This does not change the fact Man City were really poor, so Guardiola’s comments are a bit concerning.
The Catalan manager said something similar after the draw with Nottingham Forest, which indicates he is unable to accept when he gets things wrong.
Guardiola needs to accept that Wednesday’s performance was disappointing and that his decision-making played a part in the defeat.
