Manchester City was left stunned at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday as it blew a two-goal aggregate lead to Real Madrid in the return leg of their UEFA Champions League semifinal tie. Even as it was mere minutes away from clinching a second consecutive trip to the Champions League final, Real Madrid forward Rodrygo had other plans in mind, scoring a pair of late goals to knot the tie up at 5-5.
In the days following Manchester City’s dramatic Champions League exit, much has been talked about regarding the mentality of the reigning Premier League champions. However, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is not buying into this narrative.
Speaking during a pre-match press conference ahead of Manchester City's Premier League home fixture against Newcastle United, Guardiola debunked the notion that the late match collapse had much to do with his side’s sheer mindset and mental toughness.
“There is no time for mental,” Guardiola said. “It was 45 seconds later. There was no time to fall down.
“All the data and analysis, how do you control the emotion of the players? Tell me in the data how the players feel in that moment, how do you feel? Do you think they want to lose? They want to stop the cross, but it is deflected from one player, goes to Rodrygo, scores again. It’s football. What happened – it’s football. It happened and now we have to accept it.”
Guardiola did go on to pinpoint other moments of the semifinal tie against Real Madrid that his team simply failed to capitalize on, which include several critical plays during the crucial first leg.
“You play with emotions, and emotions are uncontrollable,” Guardiola said. “What happened here we scored at 3-1 and in that moment we were hot and Madrid were down. I was there. One minute later, throw-in, 3-2, not even two or three minutes to maybe get the momentum.
“Football in this competition is momentum.”
For now, Manchester City still has plenty to play for over the remainder of the season, as it is looking to maintain its slim lead over Liverpool in the Premier League standings.
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