Manchester City Eliminate Atletico Madrid From Champions League, Pep Guardiola: This Is The Third Time We Have Reached The Semifinals
JAKARTA - Manchester City manager, Pep Guardiola, praised his team's performance in the 2021/2022 Champions League quarter-finals. Although they could only finish the match with a 0-0 draw, the Citizens' struggle was able to frustrate Atletico Madrid to win tickets to the semifinals.
In the match at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium, Thursday, April 14 in the morning WIB, Pep Guardiola considered Atletico Madrid difficult to beat when playing at home. The Spaniard admitted that he was happy with the mentality of his players.
According to Guardiola, the struggle made by his foster children is an extraordinary achievement that has been achieved by Man City.
"This is the third time in our history to be in the semi-finals. We are in the semifinals and for our club it is a great achievement," said Guardiola.
Guardiola then explained, when facing Atletico his team had given the best performance. This was evidenced by the performance of The Citizens who were able to withstand all attacks from Los Rojiblancos players until the end of the match.
"Of course I'm happy with our mental strength. We gave everything, but if they scored in the last game, wouldn't mental strength be there?" he said.
Furthermore, the coach admitted that playing at the Wanda Metropolitano Stadium in a Champions League-class tournament was difficult, but his team managed to perform well and deserve credit.
"In this stadium in this competition is always difficult, this is a big compliment to the players. We can't expect every time to make everything extraordinary, but this time it all ended beautifully," he said.
Regarding the final score, which closed with a goalless draw, Guardiola regretted it. He said Manchester City should have scored because they have extraordinary players.
"I'm proud because the opponent was very good, we tried to take the ball but couldn't. With these players (quality) and chances, players should be able to score goals," he said.