Pep Guardiola said Manchester City had a “last chance” to salvage their Champions League campaign after a 4-2 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain left the 2023 European champions facing a humiliating early exit from the competition.
Despite a 2-0 lead at the start of the second half thanks to goals from Jack Grealish And Erling HaalandCity gave up their advantage and ended up losing convincingly at the Parc des Princes.
The defeat means City must now beat Club Brugge at the Etihad next Wednesday to reach the playoffs. Anything other than a win will see City eliminated.
But after seeing his team dominated by PSG, Guardiola had no complaints about the result or City’s fate.
“We have one last chance against Brugge and if we don’t qualify it’s because we don’t deserve it,” Guardiola told reporters. “We need to recover against Chelsea in our next game and just move forward.
“Tonight they (PSG) were better. Congratulate PSG and accept it. The law of football is like this: how intense and aggressive they were in key positions. We have to recover the players and make better.
“Their players suffered and they were better. They were better in the duels and we found our moment with 0-2 on goal, but in the first half they had two clear chances.”
City surrendered a winning position for the ninth time this season and the defeat was their third consecutive away defeat in the Champions League after going 12 away matches without defeat in the competition.
And Guardiola said he felt City’s defeat was down to their failure to dominate the game in midfield against PSG’s energetic unit.
“When they had the ball they went down, but we created problems,” Guardiola said. “After 2-0 and especially 1-2, we couldn’t play anymore. You have to play with the ball and they were better.
“They had an extra man in the middle with the false nine and it was difficult. They were better. They had an extra man in the middle and we expected them to be more aggressive and more aggressive. But they jumped back and squeezed very well and we couldn’t make the connection with Bernardo (Silva) and Kova (.Matthew Kovacic) was not possible or not good and we could not complete the process.”
Guardiola said Manchester City would not be able to ‘face’ PSG in the transition match.
“We had to defend with the ball and it’s impossible to play well,” he said. “PSG played better in their matches and could not win. Today they succeeded. In the big stages, the big teams, we struggle. We have to accept it. Recover and go to Chelsea .We have to get our game back.”
