The City coach analyzed the match in front of the Movistar Champions League cameras and left a message for his players: “Playing like this we don’t have a chance against Madrid.”
Sensation: “They have put us behind. We have forgotten to play. Your merit. Today we are celebrating it, but by the second part we could be eliminated. Atleti had a great second half”.
Time wasters: “I have nothing to say”
Instructions: “Coaches are not listened to. It was just trying to catch the ball, but when you don’t catch it they don’t do very well.
Tangana: “I have nothing to say to this”
Aren’t you going to say anything about wasting time? “There were throw-ins. We have tried to do it. We didn’t know what to do and it was a back and forth… Nothing more”.
Semi-final against Madrid: “The king of the competition. The only thing missing was that it wasn’t complicated. Our third semifinal of the competition. If we play like the second half we won’t have a choice. We will try to play like in Manchester and in moments of the first part here. We come from a game without time to prepare this one. They have been very good. It has been very complicated. We have resisted.”
Later, he appeared at a press conference.
On the final leg of the match: “We defended with everything and Fernandinho was excellent. He helped us a lot when he came in, he did everything right. We had to adapt to how Atlético de Madrid played in the second half, because we didn’t have the ball or the intention when it came to creating. We were thinking it was 1-0 in the Champions League, and we are not so used to it. We suffer because we forget to play, but also because the rival was very, very good”.
Defending the result: “It is always complicated in this stadium and in this competition. It says a lot about the players. We can’t expect to always play wonderfully and win three or four to nil. We have to suffer. I am proud because the rival was very good. We tried to take the ball from them, but we couldn’t. With the players and the chances they had, they could have scored a goal”.
A deserved ranking? “They are the champions of Spain, with an incredible atmosphere and energy. In the second part they were better than us. In the first we had chances to win, but at the end we are in the semi-finals. It’s a well-deserved win from what we’ve seen in the tie”.
On the pressure from Atlético: “I did not expect anything else. We talked about it at halftime, to prepare for the worst. We played Liverpool the other day and today they ran over us in the second half. If we hadn’t played in the first leg the way we did, I wouldn’t be sitting here saying we’ve gone through”.
On the losses of the City: “We are in problems. We can’t forget that three days ago we played Liverpool, and then we flew here. I don’t know what will happen in the next few weeks. Today, for now, we will celebrate the third time that City has reached the semifinals of the Champions League”.
The controversy over the prehistory and style of Atlético: “I have never criticized Atlético’s game. I have nothing to say about Atlético’s behaviour. I have a lot of respect for Atlético. It has much merit. Do not look for me, do not look for me in the battle of styles. Cholo can play however he wants. I have never criticized Atlético’s game. What he does he knows how to do like nobody else in the world”.