Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola believes his team has one last chance to avoid UEFA Champions League exit. The Cityzens suffered a 4-2 loss against Paris Saint Germain at Parc des Princes on Wednesday.
After a goalless first half, Guardiola’s team took a 2-0 lead in the second half after goals from Jack Grealish and Erling Haaland. However, the home team scored four goals soon after as Ousmane Dembele, Joao Neves, Bradley Barcola, and Goncalo Ramos found the back of the net in the last 35 minutes.
The Sky Blues will next take on Club Brugge in the Champions League on Wednesday at the Etihad Stadium and that will be a must-win game for the club. Any other result than a win will see them get eliminated.
“We have a last chance against Brugge and if we don’t go through it’s because we don’t deserve it,” Guardiola told reporters. “We have to recover against Chelsea in our next game and just move forward.
“Tonight, they [PSG] were better. Congratulate PSG and accept it. The law of football is like that — how intense and aggressive they were in key positions. You have to recover players and do it better.
“Their players suffered and they were better. They were better in the duels and we found our moment with 0-2 for the goal, but the first half they had two clear chances.”
The veteran Spaniard admitted that the opposition was better than them and they could not handle the game despite taking the lead.
“When they had the ball, they dropped, but we created problems,” Guardiola said. “After 2-0 and especially 1-2 we could not play. You have to play with the ball and they were better.
“They had an extra man in the middle with the false nine and it was difficult. They were better. They had one more player in the middle and we expected with the buildup and to have more aggression. but they jumped back and squeezed really well and we could not make the process. The connection with Bernardo [Silva] and Kova [Mateo Kovacic] was not possible or not good and we could not make the process.”
Manchester City will next take on Chelsea at the Etihad Stadium on Saturday.
