Manager says defeat shows his team are still not at the required level
Pep Guardiola is pleased at how hard his team fought in the second leg of their last-16 tie against Real Madrid but has bemoaned their lack of “completeness” this season.
City lost heavily, 5-1 on aggregate, after last week’s 3-0 defeat was followed by a 2-1 defeat at the Etihad on Tuesday. City started brightly were undone in the 20th minute when Bernardo Silva blocked a shot with his elbow and was sent off, with a penalty awarded to Madrid to boot.
Guardiola’s 10 men gave a good account of themselves for the rest of the match but the task of overcoming a four-goal deficit with 10 men against 11 can hardly be accomplished by any team.
“For the way we started and the way we played, I would have loved to play 11 against 11, but in football these circumstances happen,” Guardiola said.
“We have been in other finals, a lot of semi-finals and unfortunately in the last two editions of the Champions League we have been out. But this club, we arrived to set the bar a little bit high in terms of Champions League, and we didn’t achieve that, always this is not a good thing, but it’s fine, that is good.”
Guardiola added that City had not failed by exiting at this stage because they were not quite at such a level as a football club.
“I would love the club to have the feeling that Madrid has,” Guardiola said; “if you don’t win the Champions League, it’s a failure. That is pressure. But not [at] Man City.”
🗣️ @PepTeam reacts to tonight’s result. pic.twitter.com/WQP06QbXlf
— Manchester City (@ManCity) March 17, 2026
City’s coach also said that while his team had improved from the low points of last season, they were still not at the level required.
“When we are out [of the Champions League] and our position in the Premier League, still we are not a complete team, that is the reality, I’m not going to [deny it],” Guardiola said.
“I’ve been at Manchester City when we were a team in all the different aspects that define a team, and still we are not [at the moment]. But in terms of that we have a [Carabao Cup] final on Sunday, we have the FA Cup [quarter‑final] against Liverpool here, the Premier League still to fight [for].
“Prepare good decisions for next season and next season we will be back in the Champions League. That is what we have to do.”
He was not upset at Silva for the handball in the 20th minute. “It’s a mistake and a red card, it’s the first of his career,” Guardiola said. “It’s instinct in action, it’s not a decision that can be avoided. Never, ever, I will blame my player for the decisions.”
Meanwhile, the 55-year-old’s Madrid counterpart was pleased at how his side overpowered City in both legs of the tie.
Alvaro Arbeloa said: “The Champions League is special for Real Madrid , and we’ve faced one of the best teams in Europe. Then we have Bayern Munich, and then perhaps PSG.
“If we want to beat them, we have to play like we did tonight and like we did six days ago. We’ve had some luck in these two matches, but we deserved to win both. The 5-1 aggregate score says it all. We have to keep moving forward.”
