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Josep Guardiola, coach of Manchester City, admitted the complexity of the match that brought him together with Bayern Munich in the first leg of the quarter-finals of the Champions League.
Manchester City was able to put a step forward in the next round, as it excelled 3-0 at the “Etihad Stadium”, before the meeting was renewed at the “Allianz Arena”.
Guardiola revealed after the final whistle, “It was not a comfortable (victory). I am emotionally devastated. I have grown 10 years older on this night.”
“It was a very demanding match… It was a close match over 60 minutes. Sometimes they were better than us, and there are teams that won without having as many chances as Bayern Munich in this match,” explained the Spanish coach.
Guardiola continued, “Bayern Munich are impressive… And at the European level, they are special. You have to play two very good games to eliminate them, not just one… I know exactly what we have to do there (in the second leg). If you don’t perform well, they will be able to score.” A goal against you, two goals, three.”
In the statements reported by the British newspaper “Daily Mail”, Guardiola touched on Erling Haaland, who scored the third and final goal for Manchester City.
The 52-year-old said, “Haaland is always a source of threat, (but) he was not present in the meeting during his first half. (Matthias) de Ligt (Bayern Munich’s defense rock) always outperformed him in long balls.”
And he went on, speaking of the owner of the No. 9 shirt, “When the team’s performance began to improve, (Haaland’s) performance improved. He is not only a scorer, but he helped us a lot.”