Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes his team needs time to match the feats of his earlier years in charge after bowing out of the Champions League to Real Madrid for the third consecutive season. City lost 2-1 to 10-man Real Madrid at the Etihad Stadium, with Vinicius Junior scoring a double, but were already trailing 6-3 on aggregate after Federico Valverde’s hat-trick in the first leg.
Guardiola lamented the team’s inability to truly test Real Madrid due to captain Bernardo Silva’s red card for handling Vinicius’ shot on the goal-line. Despite the scoreline, the tie was far more evenly contested than last season’s 6-3 aggregate defeat.
City have embarked on a major rebuild, with Silva one of the few remaining key figures from the squad that won four consecutive Premier League titles. Guardiola’s men have an immediate chance to bounce back in the League Cup final against Arsenal on Sunday, but trail the Gunners by nine points in the Premier League title race and face Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals next month.
“We are not a complete team, that is a reality,” Guardiola said. “I’ve been in a team in Manchester City where we were a team in all aspects. Still we are not, but we have a final on Sunday, FA Cup against Liverpool and the Premier League is still tight.”
Guardiola wants City to aspire to the demands of Real Madrid, where anything other than winning the Champions League is deemed a failure. “I would love this club to be like Madrid where if you don’t win the Champions League, it is a failure. That is pressure,” he added
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