Manchester City must emerge stronger from their battle with Atletico Madrid as they continue in search of a treble.
That is the view of John Stones, who put in a Man of the Match performance against Atletico in the face of some physical tactics and cynical game management from the La Liga champions. City gave as good as they got in the Wanda Metropolitano however, and Stones wants them to channel that hard work into their Champions League semi-final and also the FA Cup clash with Liverpool on Saturday.
Speaking after the game, Stones admitted City had worked on combatting Atletico's unique approach to knockout games at home, and he insisted they will be better for their experience in Madrid.
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“These sorts of games, they don’t come around a lot when there is a lot on the line, a big atmosphere and different tactics to how we play," he said.
"It is a learning curve for us. We have overcome this now and it will be a great experience for us in big games and know we have overcome this and how we adapt to certain situations. It will definitely help us grow as a team and I am really proud of the boys tonight, how we played and the result after two legs.
“We have to take it one game at a time. My mindset personally has always been to just focus on the game in hand, focus all your energy on that and what you can control. Now we have got to switch that to the weekend against Liverpool in the FA Cup and focus everything that we have got on that. It is a quick turnaround as well, so we need to recover, get back to England and start thinking about the weekend.”
Stones also revealed how City learned from Atletico's tactics from their extremely defensive first leg, as they played them at their own game in terms of winding the clock down and managing the tie.
He continued: “It is incredible that we have got that character and that string to our bow with how we play and how we can adapt to different teams and pressure. I think everyone felt the pressure tonight, especially the last 20 minutes or so.
"To be able to handle that and come through it is incredible. We don’t play against Atletico in our normal season. Tonight we had to be on form and I think it was the work we did in the last few days, learning from the first leg.
“Last year was a difficult moment. It is never nice losing a final. I think after reflecting and looking back it has made us hungrier this season and we have definitely got the players, the skill and the ability to win games and people to pull things out the bag and score incredible goals.
"Tonight we didn’t score, but our overall game was incredible and we have showed in previous games that we have got matchwinners and they can take us to that next level.”
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