Proud Pep says City will come back all the stronger in wake of Euro exit

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·17 de marzo de 2026

Proud Pep says City will come back all the stronger in wake of Euro exit

Pep Guardiola said he was proud of 10-man City in the wake of Tuesday’s UEFA Champions League Round of 16 exit to Real Madrid – and backed his players to emerge all the stronger for the experience.

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City were edged out 2-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate in what was a dramatic Etihad clash with a Vinicius Jnr brace proving decisive in spite of Erling Haaland’s leveller.

Though reduced to 10 players when skipper Bernardo was shown a straight red card on 21 minutes for a deliberate handball that led to a Vinicius penalty, City never took a backward step and created a host of chances.

The Blues also had two efforts disallowed for offside in the second half after Haaland had drawn us level on the stroke of half-time.

In the end however an injury time strike from Vinicius Jnr sealed victory for the visitors and a 5-1 aggregate win as the Spaniards inflicted a European knockout blow on City for the third successive season.

It was harsh on the Blues and reflecting on the game, Guardiola spoke both of his pride along with his belief that a squad containing many players experiencing the Champions League for the first time would only be stronger for the experience.

“They always have shown [incredible spirit]. It’s tough [being] 3-0 down and then 4-0 at 10 v 11, it’s almost impossible,” Guardiola said.

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“When I analyse the game, I love the way we started and played, I would love to play 11 v 11 but in football these circumstances happen.

“Madrid are an extraordinary team and punish you when you make a mistake.

“The future will be bright and next season we will be back. We will learn.

“Sport is a challenge. We congratulate Madrid and we will go home and have the feeling that we could not play a proper game 11 v 11 to see what happened.

“Next season I don’t know what happens but of course Khusanov, Cherki, Semenyo, it’s the first time they play Champions League. This can take time.

“I see a lot of good players and many good things.

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“The first 15 minutes there and the first 20 minutes here define us quite well. Here we said 3-0 was difficult, almost impossible but let’s try. We were there.

“Even then we score and 11 v 11, we don’t know what happens. Try again and go.”

Though now out of Europe, there is still much to fight for with City contesting the Premier League title, through to the FA Cup quarter finals and now focusing on Sunday’s Carabao Cup final with Arsenal.

“We will challenge the best team in England and so far the best team in Europe. We will challenge them and then we will play them in the Premier League,” Pep added.

“Sometimes they are better and it’s a good mirror to see what we have to do to achieve that.

“We have a final on Sunday, the FA Cup is still here and we have a Premier League still to fight. We’ll try to fight and prepare good decisions for next season. We’ll be back.

“One game is not big happiness or the end of the world. We will prepare and see who we are.”