Pep Guardiola credits Gianluigi Donnarumma for keeping Real Madrid turnaround hopes alive | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has given an honest verdict on his side turning around a three-goal deficit in their UEFA Champions League Round of 16 return leg next week.

City have a mountain to climb when they face off against Alvaro Arbeloa‘s men at the Etihad Stadium next week after a breathtaking Federico Valverde hat-trick put the Blues to the sword in a professional display from Los Blancos at the Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday night.

Guardiola’s side were toothless in attack and lacked the cutting edge in the final third as Real Madrid dug deep to maintain a clean sheet and keep Manchester City at bay to ensure the visitors went back home to England empty-handed.

It remains to be seen whether Manchester City can pull off a miraculous comeback to restore parity in the tie and perhaps even do the unthinkable and produce one of the greatest European turnarounds at the Etihad Stadium next week.

Does Pep Guardiola think Manchester City can still progress to the UEFA Champions League quarter-final?

After raising eyebrows over his selection for the Round of 16 opening leg, Guardiola justified his call of moving Nico O’Reilly over to left-back after the England international was given a very difficult night by Valverde and Trent Alexander-Arnold.

The Manchester City manager was also happy with the effort his side showed in attack but admitted that the Blues lacked the cutting edge in the final third and in contrary, Real Madrid made the absolute most of the chances that came their way at the Santiago Bernabeu.

In a post-match interview with TNT Sports, Guardiola said: “Now is recover mentally a little bit, the physicality – and go to West Ham in London. It will be tough; for the Premier League, still we are there.

“And after, yeah, we’ll see, with our people – I’m pretty sure they will come (to the Etihad Stadium) and in football, you never know if we’re going to find something or we’re going to read what they have to do – and we’ll try.”

Can Gianluigi Donnarumma’s penalty save against Vinicius Jr. can make a difference in the return leg?

Manchester City’s blushes were spared of utter embarrassment on Wednesday night after Gianluigi Donnarumma pulled off a crucial penalty save against Vinicius Jr. just before the 60-minute mark to prevent further damage to the scoreline.

City will need to give everything against Los Blancos in the return leg and speaking in his post-match press conference, Guardiola admitted that he is taking encouragement from the fact that his side did not concede a fourth goal in the second-half.

“Three-nil is better than four-nil. Tough result, we cannot deny it,” the 55-year-old said. Asked to assess his side’s chances of reaching the UEFA Champions League quarter-final, Guardiola added: “Right now, not much. Of course, we are going to try.”

Manchester City must gather momentum for the second leg against Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium next week by seeing off West Ham in the Premier League this weekend as they also look to cut down Arsenal’s seven point lead at the top of the table.