Champions League holders Manchester City were knocked out at the quarter-final stage after defeat on penalties to Real Madrid who held Pep Guardiola’s side to a 1-1 draw at the Etihad Stadium
“Pep Guardiola said Manchester City could not have done anymore to beat Real Madrid”
Pep Guardiola said he had “no regrets” after holders Manchester City were knocked out of the Champions League after a dramatic penalty shoot-out.
City dominated the game, equalising through Kevin De Bruyne in the 76 th minute, but were unable to win it in normal time and extra-time, before losing when it went to sudden-death. Although Luka Modric missed Real’s first spot-kick, the 14-time winners scored the rest of their penalties, with Mateo Kovacic and Bernardo Silva missing for City.
Real go through to a semi-final showdown with Bayern Munich, with City left to try to secure a domestic double of the Premier League and FA Cup. Guardiola said: “I would have preferred to win, of course, but congrats to Real Madrid, they defended so deep with such solidarity.
“We did absolutely everything – I don’t have any regrets. We played exceptionally in all departments but unfortunately we could not win.
“I have to say thank you to these players from deep in my heart because of the way they played. But football is about winning and we didn’t do enough yet we were exceptional.
“Sometimes you can win on penalties and sometimes you cannot. But in the game we did not convert the chances that we had, even though we defended really. Everyone performed at a high level. We said we would have to be at our best to play Real Madrid and they were.”
