Guardiola frustrated after Madrid late comeback seals 3-2 first leg win at Manchester City

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Guardiola frustrated after Madrid late comeback seals 3-2 first leg win at Manchester City  11/02/2025  uefa24

Transcript

00:00Evening, guys. We'll take a show of hands, please.

00:04Questions from English-speaking media first,

00:06and then we'll take a few from Spanish towards the end.

00:09Somewhere to start, Simon?

00:13Pep, after that game and result, where do you think this tie sits now?

00:19This tie, sorry?

00:20Where do you think this tie is?

00:21What chance do you think your team has got of getting through?

00:25Well, maybe less than when we were 2-1, for example.

00:28So, yeah, it's been four games, four times we've played in a row against Madrid.

00:35Here, the previous three, we were much, much better than them.

00:39And today was tight.

00:40In certain moments, you have chances that Ederson was our best player.

00:45And yeah, but sometimes it happens there.

00:47How many times a team is better and after that the result doesn't work.

00:51And I think they started really well the first 15 minutes after we took the game.

00:55We played really, really good with the ball.

00:59The second half, they could not have the passes that we need to play.

01:07And we want to attack so quick.

01:08And when you attack so quick against the strikers that they have at front,

01:11it's more and more difficult.

01:13But after the 2-1, it happened to resume a little bit this season.

01:16So many games happened against Feyenoord, against Sporting de Lisboa,

01:21against Brentford in the Premier League,

01:24and Man Utd, and many games.

01:27At the end, we give away.

01:29So, we give away for ourselves.

01:32And in that level, it's so difficult.

01:37It's not the first time, unfortunately.

01:38It happened many times.

01:39And that's why it's difficult.

01:42Pep, how do you stop that?

01:44You've just been through some of the games where your team has conceded goals,

01:48particularly late on.

01:49How do you stop that?

01:50We talk about that, but how?

01:55So, we have to know that there are mistakes in similar areas,

01:58and when we are there, it's difficult to manage.

02:03But, yeah, it happened many times.

02:06Hi, Pep.

02:07I know previously you said it's not a psychological thing,

02:11that it's just a bad decision, if that's all, with regard to these mistakes.

02:14But is it becoming a bit of a vicious circle?

02:16It's almost becoming its own problem,

02:19this conceding of late goals, that your players, it's in their heads a little bit,

02:22oh, no, here we go again.

02:23No, but when you are 1-2-1, psychologically, we'll see,

02:27oh, we stopped to play, and we are scary,

02:30and the opponent continues to attack and attack and attack.

02:34And after, we understand, oh, we are...

02:36But in that moment at 2-1, nothing wrong happened.

02:39So, we are maybe closer to creating chances than them.

02:43And after what happened, what happened.

02:44But it's not about a specific player.

02:48So, it would be easy if every player did the same.

02:50There are many situations to read what you have to do,

02:53what you have to read in those situations,

02:55and we are not able to do it.

02:59Do you think the kicking out from the back put you under,

03:03in particular from your keeper, put you under a lot of pressure,

03:09playing out that way?

03:10Did you think it could be managed a bit better at 2-1?

03:14Eddie decided to play a long ball with a kick and score a goal.

03:20So, maybe we play short, and we lose the ball,

03:23and I said, oh, why play a long ball?

03:25So, the players take decisions in the moment, you know that?

03:29And sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn't work.

03:31The composure that you have to manage the situations,

03:34today we are not able, and not now.

03:37It's not now, it's not today.

03:38It happened many, many times.

03:40So, reflect and think, and maybe in the future it's not going to happen,

03:44and be brave and courageous, and go forward for the next games.

03:47So, it's what it is.

03:50The previous games, the way we played,

03:53we had to manage a win from a big margin,

03:55and it didn't happen.

03:57Today it was tighter.

03:58So, I'm quite honest with myself,

04:01I had chances and played good with the ball,

04:04when in the past it didn't happen.

04:06All the time it's ball away,

04:08and today the association that they have is higher than in the past.

04:12And in the moments that we should have that situation,

04:17we could not manage it.

04:19But, yeah, we arrived in the last minutes with the result,

04:23and we could not keep it.

04:25So, that's the point.

04:26James.

04:27But, Pep, just on the late goals, as you mentioned,

04:30I think it's eight goals you've conceded in the last 16 minutes

04:33of your last five Champions League games.

04:36Can you not be competitive over the remainder of the season if this carries on?

04:41Of course not.

04:46I've been here for many years, and we have been an extraordinary team.

04:50I said yesterday, we were an incredible machine every three days,

04:52we were huge competitors, and this year...

04:55Not because I accept, but the opening is better, it's better.

05:00But in the moment I'm not able.

05:03I said months ago, I'm not good enough to give something to the composer,

05:08to the team, how to manage this kind of situation,

05:11but it happened many times, so this is the truth.

05:15Pep, Jon Stones has said on the television that you've told the players

05:19that they need to start taking accountability themselves.

05:22I just wondered what that looks like to you,

05:25and what you want to see from them moving forward?

05:27It belongs to all of us, it's not to the players.

05:30I don't have a problem to accept that it doesn't work like it worked in the past.

05:38It's not a problem, but it's all of us.

05:41For me it would be easy to say, blame one specific player, or blame whatever.

05:46That is ridiculous, so it doesn't work, it's all of us.

05:49Me first, because that's why I'm here for many years,

05:52and of course the players as well.

05:55So this is the truth, and they want it, yes of course,

05:58how they run, how they do it, but the truth is that we are not stable enough

06:04in those moments to do the things that happen.

06:07Not today, today is an exception, it happened many times.

06:10It happened many times because we are not,

06:12but at the end, today is where it is, tomorrow, the day after tomorrow,

06:17and we have to continue to learn, fresh minds, fresh legs, and go for them.

06:23Last one in English, guys.

06:24Hi Pep, good evening.

06:26Juan Yegua for FlaScore.

06:27Besides the result, what are the good things to keep from this game,

06:32and to try to use them again in the future?

06:34What is positive from this?

06:36There are many, of course there are many, many good things.

06:38We know which team we are playing, there are many good things that we played,

06:42but the result is what it is, so we are here for the business, for the results.

06:45Of course we did many good things, and things can improve.

06:50And always I give credit for the opponent, when they are the quality that they have,

06:54always I have to give credit for what they do,

06:56but of course we are doing many good things,

06:58but that's the question, when you arrive at the end with the result,

07:02it's tough, it happens many times, for the players it's difficult.

07:06I think a lot of them, I think a lot how they suffer,

07:09because they do everything, but we are not able to close that,

07:13to be solid in the decision-making in certain moments, do it better.

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