Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola admitted there isn’t much chance for his team to turn a corner after they suffered a 3-0 beating against Real Madrid in the first-leg of the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League at Santiago Bernabeu on Wednesday.
The Los Blancos claimed a comprehensive 3-0 win against the Cityzens after Federico Valverde scored a first-half hat-trick. Valverde found the back of the net in the 20th, 27th and 42nd minute for the home team to put his team in command.
Asked afterwards about City’s prospects of qualifying for the quarterfinals, Guardiola said: “Now, not much.
“Of course we’re going to try. We will read what to do better and be more active in the final third and we will try.”
Meanwhile, Jérémy Doku, Savinho and Abdukodir Khusanov made starts for the visitors. Furthermore, Guardiola moved Nico O’Reilly from midfield to left-back but the latter made a mistake in the opening goal of the evening.
“How many times has Nico O’Reilly played left back this season? How many times?” said the City boss in response to questions about whether he made an error with his selection.
“The only adjustment was Khusanov in that area because Vinícius arrives in those areas and you have to control that.
“I did rotation in Newcastle with 11 different players and it was fine, so understand what I’m saying.
“Part of this was for wingers to try to drop them and people in the middle in pockets to arrive close to the box, control to the striker and second striker with experienced, fast players in behind.”
Manchester City will next take on West Ham on Saturday in the Premier League.
















