JAKARTA - Manchester City again failed to continue their journey in the Champions League. After being eliminated in the 16th round following a 2-1 defeat against Real Madrid, manager Pep Guardiola admitted that he felt he was the target of a firing.
Man City is indeed upset. Qualified for the 16th round automatically in the Champions League, Man City instead got a tough opponent Real Madrid in that round. Although he was optimistic with the schedule because Madrid was indeed 'not doing well', Man City actually experienced an anticlimax.
In the first match at the opponent's home, Madrid, who were not supported by Kylian Mbappe, even slaughtered The Cityzens 3-0. Even Madrid should have won four goals if Vinicius Junior's penalty did not fail.
The crushing defeat makes Man City have to work hard to catch up with the goal deficit in the second match which will be held at home at the Etihad, Wednesday, March 18, 2026 WIB.
However, Erling Haaland et al. still couldn't show their maximum performance. Even Man City had to lose captain Bernardo Silva who got a red card in the 20th minute. He was considered to have deliberately held the ball that was about to go into the goal with his arm. As a result, not only Silva was sent off, but Man City was also punished with a penalty.
Practicing playing with 10 people, Man City was unable to stop Madrid and was forced to surrender 2-1. Forward Vinicius Junior scored two goals for Los Blancos' victory. The only goal from Man City was produced by Haaland.
The team, which currently ranks second in the English Premier League, was finally eliminated after losing 5-1 on aggregate. Guardiola also extinguished the ambition of repeating the success in 2023 when he brought Man City to the wide-mouthed trophy for the first time in the club's history and is still the only one that can be won.
The failure is also a threat if Man City is likely to fail to win a trophy like last season. In the Premier League competition, they are nine points behind the leader of the standings Arsenal. In the last match, Man City was forced to draw 1-1 against West Ham United.
Man City is still in the English League Cup, but they will face Arsenal in the final. Meanwhile, in the FA Cup, Man City meets another strong team, Liverpool. The shadow of failure is back to haunt Man City. It's just that Guardiola is playing victim. The former coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich also threw an issue when many wanted him to be fired at Man City.
"Everyone wants me to be fired, right?" said Guardiola while laughing as quoted by Mail Online. He also stated that he would not resign and would complete his contract until next year.
"One day I will come back here [to speak to the press] and say goodbye to you all. But for now I'm still here with a one-year contract," he said.
Guardiola revealed that he was under a lot of pressure during his time at Man City. If he wants his position to remain safe at the Etihad, he is burdened with having to win more Champions League trophies.
"You may be right. I have to win the Champions League six times to get recognition. That's right," he said.
"When I first arrived here [Man City], I was asked if I could win the Champions League? [We got] 100 points [in the Premier League]. But the question is can I win the Champions League? In the end we can win. Now the question is can we win the Champions League five or six times?" he said.
Guardiola stated that he had tried to meet the target. However, the effort always failed except in 2023. "We have tried. But we only reached the semi-finals and in the last two editions we were eliminated in the early rounds. Pep is considered a failure if he can't win the Champions League. Okay, that's okay. It's not just a hope, but it's a target. We believe that someday we can achieve it," said Guardiola.
Despite failing in the Champions League, Guardiola remains optimistic with the current Man City squad. However, he admitted that it was not easy to face Madrid with a 3-0 deficit. Moreover, they played with 10 people since the first half.
"Obviously when it's so difficult you're already 4-0 down and playing 10 against 11. But we've done everything because we have a special team with special players. The future of this team is very good," he said.
"The game should have been 11 against 11. But we don't know. It could be, we should have lost 6-0 on aggregate," said Guardiola.
The English, Chinese, Japanese, Arabic, and French versions are automatically generated by the AI. So there may still be inaccuracies in translating, please always see Indonesian as our main language. (system supported by DigitalSiber.id)
