Manchester City 'overwhelmed' Real Madrid in Wednesday's Champions League semi-final second leg, Spanish defender Dani Carvajal says.
City and Madrid had shared a high-quality 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu last week, setting up a one-game shootout at the Etihad on Wednesday. City came out of the blocks quicker and produced a sensational display - especially in the first half - to beat Champions League experts Real 4-0 on the night to set up a final in Istanbul with Inter Milan.
Real looked devoid of any ideas all evening, even when they had more of the ball in the second half, and defender Carvajal admitted that his side just couldn't cope with City's attacking intensity.
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After City inflicted Real's joint-heaviest away defeat in the Champions League era, Carvajal said: "We played a rival who were better than us in this match - they pretty well overwhelmed us.
"We can recognise that City were better, we were lacking something. It wasn't attitude we were lacking but we allowed ourselves to be pressed back too much. In the second half, we had our best moments. We knew that City were very strong at home but after the first leg we were left with the feeling that we could be better than this here – better on the ball. We are Madrid; we'll come back stronger and we'll work really hard next season to be back at this stage of the tournament."
Goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois, who produced two stunning saves at 0-0 and another before City's third, also rued how City imposed their game, preventing Real from carrying out any kind of game plan.
He explained: "I don’t think the way City started was a surprise to us, we were expecting a burst of pressure: that they wouldn't let us play out with the ball easily. We expected to be pressed back into our own penalty area.
"The big problem was that we didn’t manage to create our own attacking play, and when we didn’t create chances, City felt more and more comfortable. They scored, that felt like a setback, and Toni [Kroos] hit the bar with his shot. At half-time we were convinced we could turn the match around, but we weren’t crisp and clean with the passes, and that cost us.
"We needed to let them win fewer second balls. We needed to complete more of our simple passes. When you’re running after the ball and City are in charge, it’s not easy. They consistently had six, seven, even eight players high up the pitch. We didn’t break through that the way we can. Losing like this hurts more. You can lose 2-1 or 1-0, but this is a big defeat to swallow. It’s time to stay proud of our path to this stage. City are having a great year domestically too. If we weren’t at 100 per cent, then it was always going to be difficult."
Real Madrid Vice-President Emilio Butragueño added: "The first thing to say is congratulations to Manchester City. They were better than us and deserve to go through to the final."
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