Pep Guardiola reveals Man City priority before Real Madrid and Arsenal clashes | OneFootball

It is shaping up to be a season-defining period for Pep Guardiola and Man City

Pep Guardiola has said Manchester City have not given up hope of a memorable Champions League comeback against Real Madrid.

A hat-trick from Real Madrid midfielder Federico Valverde means City must score at least three times in next week’s second leg at the Etihad Stadium to have any chance of progression.

Interestingly, the return fixture is sandwiched between an important Premier League fixture against West Ham and the Carabao Cup final showdown with Arsenal.

However, Guardiola has indicated that his side will not prioritise the title race or the cup final over the Champions League decider against Los Blancos.

“Right now, not much,” Guardiola said when asked about City’s chances of reaching the quarter-finals.

“Of course we’re going to try and it is difficult right now.

“But we will be there with our people and we will do better to be more active in the final third and we will try.”

Man City had a night to forget against Real Madrid

Action Images via Reuters

City’s remain alive in the Champions League tie thanks to Gianluigi Donnarumma’s penalty save from Vinicius Jr which prevented Madrid taking a four-goal lead into the second leg.

Guardiola added: “3-0 is better than four, we cannot deny that.

“It’s difficult sometimes to control transitions when we lose the ball and they connect, they don’t put the ball away and then players like Vinicius can run.

“I had the feeling that it was quite decent and well played.

But we will be there with our people and we will do better to be more active in the final third and we will try

Pep Guardiola

“We arrived, I don’t know how many times, to the byline. Individual actions from Jeremy [Doku], long balls in the second half especially for Antoine [Semenyo] and Nico [O’Reilly] then passes in the six-yard box we were not able to [beat] Courtois.

“We miss that action in the first 50 minutes. The first goal was not well defended and then after that the quality they have.

“[It’s a] difficult result. Now we recover, go to West Ham and then with our people we will try.”