After being swept aside by a Kylian Mbappe hat-trick to earn Real Madrid a 6-3 aggregate aggregate victory, Pep Guardiola acknowledged that Manchester City needed rebuilding.
The 15-time champions were defeated by Mbappe on Wednesday to win a 3-1 second leg, but City already had suffered as a result from conceding two late goals to lose the home match 3-2 last week.
The Spanish giants have knocked City out for the third time in four seasons, but this is the first time the English champions have never made the last 16 since Guardiola arrived in 2016.
Due to City’s 22-team table finishing in the middle of the competition, the teams were drawn to a fight much earlier in the competition.
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“The better team won,” Guardiola told Spanish TV station Movistar.
“We have had a bad year in the competition. If you finish 22nd, it is because we haven’t been right. Our worst year has come to an end. ”
This season, City’s struggles have been largely caused by injuries.
Due to a knee problem, Erling Haaland was unable to play for the Santiago Bernabeu, and John Stones was forced to start inside the first ten minutes.
City’s opening goal came from Nico Gonzalez after Omar Marmoush’s free-kick rebounded off the crossbar, thanks to two of their January signings.
Guardiola said the rebuild had already begun as City spent £170 million ($214 million) on bringing Marmoush, Gonzalez, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis to the club during the mid-season transfer window.
“It is normal. Nothing endures forever, and there are some players in the group who have inaugurated a new era,” Guardiola said.
Given how difficult the competition is, we cannot dispute what this group of players have accomplished by winning six Premier Leagues in seven years.
“In Europe always getting to the quarter-finals, semi-finals, final. It contains a lot about our actions. ”
Guardiola thinks this is the best he has ever faced because Madrid have won the competition every time they have defeated City in the last four years.
“This year we faced the best Madrid. In the previous ones, going through or not, we were very good,” he said.
They are better because they can run for long periods of time, defend well against a high line, and also defend well against men who are behind the ball. You must congratulate them. ”
Source: Channels TV
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