Despite losing 0-3 to Real Madrid, Manchester City has not given up yet.

JAKARTA - Manchester City coach Pep Guardiola insists his team has not given up on qualifying for the Champions League quarter-finals despite suffering a 0-3 defeat to Real Madrid in the first leg of the last 16.

Playing at the Santiago Bernabeu, Thursday morning WIB, City as the away team was defeated by Madrid through three goals scored by Federico Valverde (20', 27', 42') in the first half.

"Of course we will try, and right now the situation is difficult," Pep said about City's chances of advancing to the quarter-finals, quoted by Antara from the official Man City website, Thursday.

"But we will play in front of our supporters and we will try to play better, more active in the final third of the field," he added.

City's defeat could have been even bigger if goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma hadn't stopped Vinicius Junior's penalty in the second half.

Commenting on this, Pep breathed a little relief, even though in the end the three-goal gap was still difficult to catch.

"3-0 is certainly better than four goals, we can't deny that," said the Spanish coach.

"Sometimes it's hard to control the transition when we lose the ball and they immediately connect. They don't waste opportunities and players like Vinicius can run," he continued.

Furthermore, Pep assessed that his team actually played quite well in this match. They were able to reach the Madrid penalty box, but always failed to conquer Thibaut Courtois who made four saves.

"We reached the end line of the field many times. Individual actions from Jeremy Doku, long balls in the second half especially to Antoine Semenyo and Nico O'Reilly, then a pass to the six-yard box, but we were not able to beat Thibaut Courtois," said Pep.

The second leg will be played at the Etihad Stadium next Wednesday (18/3), after the Citizens completed the match in the English League against West Ham United at the London Olympic Stadium on Sunday (15/3).