Federico Valverde's hat-trick in 22 minutes shocked Man City, making their chance of reaching the quarter-finals more fragile than ever. Fortunately in the second half, goalkeeper Donnarumma successfully saved a penalty kick from Vinicius, thereby giving Man City more hope in the second leg at home at the Etihad.
When asked about Man City's chances of reaching the quarter-finals, Guardiola frankly said: "Currently, the team does not have much hope anymore, but we will try our best. We will stand side by side with our fans, be more active in the attacking area, do what needs to be done.
The 0-3 defeat is better than 0-4, we do not deny that. We lacked dangerous plays in the first 50 minutes. The first goal conceded was a poor defensive situation and then were plays that showed the opponent's quality.
This is a heavy defeat for Man City. Now we need to recover, visit West Ham's stadium and then the whole team will try our best in the second leg.
Before the match, the head coach of Real Madrid said that Guardiola would create a surprise with the starting lineup. As predicted, Guardiola gave the starting opportunity to Doku, Savinho and Khusanov.
He also moved Nico O'Reilly from midfield to left-back, and it was this 20-year-old player who made the mistake leading to Valverde's first goal when he misjudged a long pass from Thibaut Courtois.
Guardiola substituted Savinho off the field in the second half when his team was losing 0-3. Although the result was not as desired, Guardiola still defended his decision to use personnel.
According to Guardiola, one of the reasons Man City lost heavily in the first leg was their lack of sharp finishing ability. He emphasized that Man City had many situations of putting the ball into the penalty area, but did not have dangerous shots to beat goalkeeper Courtois. This is what Man City needs to improve in the second leg.
In the UEFA Champions League semi-finals of the 2022-2023 season, Man City once defeated Real Madrid 4-0 at home at the Etihad. This will be the basis for Pep Guardiola's team to have more confidence to reverse the score in the second leg.
The rematch between Man City vs Real Madrid will take place at 3:00 AM on March 18.
