Pep Guardiola rues shock defeat to Lyon and hopes Man City will ‘one day break the gap’ to the semi-final
MAN CITY boss Pep Guardiola sounded crestfallen as his team blew yet another Champions League quarter-final.
After brilliantly beating Real Madrid in the previous round, Guardiola’s team were the favourites for the competition and a win against Lyon was considered a formality.
Rudi Garcia’s side finished seventh in Ligue 1 last season – albeit with the season finishing early.
But City were clearly second best in Lisbon, with Pep’s tinkering team selection and tactics again called into question.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager is still to reach a semi-final with the club.
Speaking after the shock 3-1 defeat, he said: “One day we will break this gap to the semis.
“In the first 20, 25 minutes we struggled to find spaces to attack.
“The second half was OK – we were there. I had a feeling we were better. You have to be perfect in this competition.”
VAR again had a hand in City’s defeat, with defender Aymeric Laporte seemingly fouled in the build-up to the second goal.
“I don’t know,” added Pep, “I don’t want to talk about the circumstances.
“It looks like I am complaining or finding causes. We are out.
“I had the feeling we were ready but we make mistakes. That’s why we are out.
“We did a lot of good things, but it wasn’t enough. We made mistakes in the boxes in key moments. We struggled to find our spaces to attack.”
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The Catalan boss also saw red hot Raheem Sterling somehow miss an open chance that would have seen City level to 2-2.
He said: “In this situation you have to equalise to take it to extra time, but then we concede the third and it’s over. We created more chances and more shots.
“We are disappointed. We now go on holidays. Then we have to lift the players when they return to the club again.”