Pep Guardiola refused to wallow after Manchester City’s latest Champions League misstep, delivering home truths and accepting that if his club were to exit the competition it would be what they deserve.
City lost 4-2 against Paris Saint‑Germain at a raucous Parc des Princes, having led 2-0, and they will fall short of the playoff round if they do not win their final group tie next Wednesday at home against Club Brugge.
Guardiola appeared to suggest he had been outmanoeuvred by the PSG manager, Luis Enrique, his good friend and former Barcelona and Spain teammate, who regularly had the extra man in midfield by playing with a false nine.
Guardiola lamented his team’s lack of intensity and how poor they were with the ball at the back. “The players suffered and PSG were better,” he said. “They were better in the duels. They were quicker, faster … one more man in the middle and we could not cope with that as they were fast.
“After 2-0 and especially 2-1 we could not play. You have to play with the ball and they were better. We have a last chance against Brugge and if we don’t go through it’s because we don’t deserve it. You have to recover players and do it better.
“We expected [more] with the buildup and to have more aggression but they jumped back and squeezed really well. The connection with Bernardo [Silva] and [Mateo] Kovacic was not possible or not good. We could not make the process and in terms of transitions we could not cope with them.
“Everything happened in the middle and they had more players there. We could not do it and we could not control it defensively and that was the point. To defend we have to play and we could not. Keep the ball, make an extra pass. In the big stages, the big teams, we struggle. We have to accept it. We have to recover our game.”
Jack Grealish, who came on as a half-time substitute and scored City’s first goal, said: “It’s happened too many times this season when we’ve gone one goal or two goals up, or even three against Feyenoord [in the Champions League] and we’ve not been able to control the game and see it out. It’s weird because in every other season we’ve been so good in these moments, managing the game.”
