MADRID, 12 Feb. (EUROPA PRESS) –
The Manchester City coach Josep Guardiola, has lamented the downturn of his pupils in defense at the end of the party against Real Madrid in the sixteenth -end, something that in his opinion “has happened many times” and that has conditioned his future in Several tournaments, as now in the Champions League after its 2-3 defeat in the first leg.
“After 2-1, this season happened a bit. With many teams, in many games. It happened against Feyenoord, against Sporting de Lisbon, against Brentford in the Premier League, against Manchester United and in many games It is like in the end we yield.
Then he calibrated his options to pass this tie. “Maybe less than when we were 2-1, for example,” he replied. “They have been four times in a row playing against Madrid. In the previous three we were much better than them, but today it has been matched and at certain times their chances made Ederson be our best player,” he admitted.
“Sometimes that happens, how many times a team is better and then the result does not work? I think we started very well the first five or ten minutes after we dominate, we played very well with the ball. In the second half we could not do The passes we needed to play and we do not attack so fast;
In this sense, Guardiola resigned himself for not having found solutions to those disconnections in the rear. “We talk about it, but how? We have to know that there are mistakes in certain areas and when we are there it is difficult to drive. But it has happened many times,” the Catalan coach repeated in the press room of the Etihad Stadium.
“When you go 2-1 and psychologically you see that you have stopped playing and scares, and that the opponent continues to attack and attack and attack … you have to understand that at that time, with 2-1, nothing bad happened and that we were closer to creating opportunities than them, “he summarized.
“But this is not about a specific player, it would be easy if all players did the same. There are many situations, you have to see what you have to do, what you have to read in those situations and we still can’t do it,” Guardiola explained to journalists.
However, he avoided blaming the Ederson goalkeeper for his ruling in the origin of 2-2. “He decided to play a long ball, but it wasn’t a good serve and cost a goal. If we may play short and we lost the ball, we would say ‘Why not play it long?’ Players make decisions at every moment, sometimes it works and sometimes it does not work, “he said.
“This is not from now that there is, “Guardiola added, who was later blunt about the option that the City will relax this season. “Of course not. I have been here for many years and we have been an extraordinary team. I have already said that we are an incredible machine every three days,” he said.
In addition, he valued what to get out of this defeat. “There are many good things. Of course, there are many good things. We know what team we are playing with. There are many good things we have done, but the result is what it is,” he added. “The point is that when you get to the end with a good result it is difficult and it can be too much challenge for players. It’s difficult. I think a lot about them, I think a lot about how they suffer because they give everything. But we can’t close it, we can’t be solid In the decisions we make at certain times or do better, “he lamented.
Similarly, he praised Real Madrid for his improvement in Etihad: “Of all the games we have played, he has been the best.” And then Guardiola advocated looking for the comeback in the back duel, scheduled for February 19 at the Santiago Bernabéu stadium. “I hope so. We’ll try or try, I’m sure,” he said.
“I have nothing to reproach my team because I know which team we are playing. There are issues that sometimes, of course, when you go at this level with such a close result in the last minutes, let it go … Well, of course, it costs more to accept it “The coach ‘Citizen’ reiterated.
Then Guardiola dodged the question about the tribute banner to Rodri Hernández and to the detriment of Vinícius Jr., a rebuff of the Golden Ball won by the Spanish. “I have not seen it. It is that when the banner was, I was inside [del túnel de vestuarios]; And when I left, the banner was no longer, “he finally dispatched this matter.