Pep Guardiola shut down expectations that Manchester City should have eased to victory against Real Madrid - after watching his team battle hard to earn a 1-1 draw in the first leg of their Champions League semi-final.
City fought back from a goal down to secure a valuable draw in Madrid as Kevin de Bruyne's second-half strike cancelled out Vinicius Jr's opener. It was an enthralling, end-to-end affair as Guardiola's side take home a precious result ahead of the second-leg at the Etihad Stadium next week.
Speaking to BT Sport after the match, Guardiola said: "We were better when they scored, they were better when we scored. It was a tight game. Real Madrid in the semi-final is always a tough one. We turned up, we had good moments, it's difficult with the quality they have on and off the ball. 1-1, final next Wednesday with our people."
"We started really well in the first-half, but then they made a lot of passes, they are really, really good at that," he added. "But after we scored a really good goal from Kevin, we had good moments. They had a few good chances."
When asked about whether pundits and fans alike expected City to sweep Real aside, Guardiola replied: "If you expect us to come here and win by six goals, it's your problem. Madrid knows this competition more than anyone."
Meanwhile, Carlo Ancelotti opened up on his team's performance and praised how they defended on the night against one of the deadliest sides in Europe. City had scored 12 goals in their previous four Champions League matches against Bayern Munich and RB Leipzig twice.
He said: "Defensively we were very good. Rudiger against Haaland did really well, the midfield covered really well the position in front of the defence, we managed the ball well in the second half.
"We are satisfied. Sometimes the result doesn’t give you credit but the performance was really good, we are happy and we are in a strong condition for the next game."
Jack Grealish also delivered his assessment on City's display. He admitted: " I think Brentford before the World Cup was the last time - I could be wrong - but we even drew a game. I think we’ve won every game since then. Obviously we lost that one but I think even within ourselves, at the Etihad at the moment we just feel unstoppable there.
"We come here tonight to try and win, I swear we didn’t try and get a draw, we come here to win. But, I think it just shows our character. To go a goal down is always difficult, playing at place like this and to go a goal down, I think in the end it probably was a fair result. They had their chances, we had a few as well. I really enjoyed it tonight, man. I loved it."
