Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admits he has not spoken to his players about the Champions League semi-final exit to Real Madrid on Wednesday night .
Guardiola’s side were in touching distance of a second final in as many seasons, heading into stoppage time 5-3 up on aggregate before a last-gasp Rodrygo double took the tie to extra-time.
Karim Benzema’s penalty in extra-time saw Real seal a 3-1 win on the night, 6-5 on aggregate, and a place in the final later this month against Liverpool in Paris. It is similar circumstances to when City missed out on the 2016 final to Real, a defeat that also happened at the Estadio Bernabeu.
That loss ended City’s hopes for a first ever Champions League title win after losing last season’s final to Chelsea in Porto. Asked about what Guardiola said to his players after the surprise late defeat, he admits nothing he could have said would have helped to get over the defeat.
“Nothing. No words can help to feel what we all feel,” said Guardiola. “Just time, sleep as best as possible and think of the next target. Tomorrow is the next day we're together, we'll talk who we are as a team, what we've done to get to semi-finals of the Champions League, how good we have been in these two games and the whole season.
“Of the moments I'm manager these are the moments I'm most proud to be here. I'm not thinking about the title, I'm thinking about Newcastle, focus on the team and Eddie Howe. After, this is what is in my mind. Not necessary to think just in case, we achieve what it is.”
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City will now turn their attentions on to attempting to win a sixth Premier League title in the space of a decade and a fourth since Pep Guardiola took over the Sky Blues after leaving Bayern Munich.
With four games remaining in their season, City host Newcastle United, one of the most in-form teams in the Premier League on Saturday. They currently lead Liverpool by a point with four games to go in the campaign.
Guardiola has said that City are focussed on trying to end the season perfectly in their final four games of the campaign, knowing that four wins from as many games would guarantee that they win the title later this month.
“We recover, we're better than yesterday and tomorrow will be better than today,” added Guardiola. “ It's football. We have a big challenging two weeks, especially this week where we have the season in our hands.
After facing Newcastle, City will take on two away trips in the space of four days, first to Wolverhampton Wanderers and then to West Ham United, who exited the Europa League on Thursday night with a semi-final defeat to Eintracht Frankfurt.
City’s final game of the season is at the Etihad Stadium, taking on Aston Villa on May 22.
