Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, revealed that both Erling Haaland and Kevin de Bruyne requested to be substituted before their team’s defeat against Real Madrid in the Champions League quarter-finals. If they had still been on the pitch, they likely would have taken penalty kicks, as City ultimately lost 4-3 in the shootout after a 4-4 aggregate score.
Guardiola also mentioned that defender Manuel Akanji needed to be replaced due to recent injuries. “They asked me to go out,” Guardiola stated. “They could not continue.”
During the match, Haaland was replaced by Julian Alvarez, who successfully converted his penalty at the end of regular time. De Bruyne, who scored City’s opening goal, was substituted in the second half of extra time for Mateo Kovacic, whose penalty was saved by Real goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.
Despite Bernardo Silva asking to take a penalty, Guardiola refrained from criticizing him or Kovacic for their unsuccessful attempts. “Bernardo is a reliable player,” he commented. “He wanted to take it. He decided to shoot in that way. It is what it is.”
Despite dominating the statistics with 67% possession, 33 shots (9 on target) compared to Real Madrid’s 8 shots (3 on target), and an impressive display overall, City’s efforts were in vain. Their hopes of defending the Champions League title won against Inter Milan last year were dashed, along with their ambitions for an historic double Treble.
Guardiola acknowledged that losing in such a manner was painful. “Johan Cruyff said luck doesn’t exist, I agree with him,” he remarked. “Losing like this hurts. We feel bad but we did everything. We have no regrets about what we have done.”
City now has little time to recover as they face Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final at Wembley on Saturday. Guardiola recognizes that this defeat will sting, especially considering Real Madrid’s status as tournament heavyweights and their increased chances of lifting the trophy for a record 15th time at Wembley in June.
“We played exceptional in all departments but unfortunately we did not win,” Guardiola emphasized. “You hope to create more and concede less because it helps you to win, but we didn’t convert the chances we had.”
The defeat against Real Madrid serves as a reminder that to beat a team of their caliber, City must perform at their absolute best. Although they were at their best on the night, it simply wasn’t enough to secure victory.