Guardiola on Benfica v Real Madrid, plus thoughts on Mourinho: "A good one..." | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola was one of the many personalities who reacted to the historic victory over Real Madrid. In the aftermath of the Citizens' match, which secured their direct qualification for the round of 16 of the Champions League, the Catalan coach had a few words of appreciation for Benfica.

At the press conference, the coach was asked by a journalist present: "Will you send any message of thanks to José Mourinho?" Faced with the question about his old rival from their time coaching in Spain, Guardiola replied: "Yes, of course".

"We didn’t know that Benfica needed a goal to qualify," added the Catalan coach, revealing that he was not aware of the criteria for the Club of Light to reach the next stage of the Champions League.

"So, when we saw the goalkeeper coming up, we asked: 'Why are you coming up? Stay in goal, because Real Madrid could equalize and then we’d be out [of direct qualification]'," said the Catalan, expressing disbelief at Trubin's goal.

"But it was a good strategy from José, wasn’t it? Scoring the fourth goal..." admitted Pep Guardiola. It’s worth remembering that Benfica will face Real Madrid in the Champions League playoff. The two matches are scheduled for February 17 and 25, first at Estádio da Luz and then at Santiago Bernabéu.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.