Pep Guardiola reveals what he told the Manchester City squad after Champions League exit at the hands of Real Madrid | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed what he said to his players after their Champions League run came to an end at the hands of Real Madrid on Wednesday.

The Premier League outfit dominated the second-leg clash at the Etihad after a scintillating 3-3 draw in the Spanish capital the previous week. However, Guardiola’s men couldn’t find the back of the net when the affair went to penalties, and the 14-time winners, Real Madrid, booked their spot in the semi-finals.

It was the first time Guardiola’s side had lost a two-legged tie in the Champions League since the 2021/22 campaign in which Real Madrid, once again, bounced them out of the competition after extra-time at the Santiago Bernabéu.

While City will have to quickly turn their attention to the FA Cup semi-final showdown with Chelsea at Wembley this weekend, some of Guardiola’s players will certainly still be stinging for their European exit.

Speaking ahead of that matchup with the Londoners on Saturday, the Manchester City boss revealed what he told his players in the dressing room just moments after their defeat at the hands of Real Madrid.

“Nothing,” Guardiola said. “After the game I said thank you to them. We talked about the game, being ourselves.

“All of us, we wanted to win but we never know what’s going to happen, but at least try to be ourselves and more than ever we were ourselves, but it was not enough.

“And after that happens, I said thank you to all of them, to dignify the profession, the job, what they do, after what they have done in the past, the humility to try it again, and after that not even one word.

“It’s just you have to pass the moment alone everyone being himself, families, friends, and it’s not necessary to have words in that moment, everyone is sad and they have to accept it.

“It’s a really tough opponent and we travel this afternoon and try to smell who feels better, who recovers better from the game against Madrid, because you talk with them, ‘No, no I’m fine Pep, I’m fine Pep, I’m fine’.

“But at the end you never know if they are fine because sometimes you recover better than other ones, and everyone is ready to try to do this battle again.”

The Etihad outfit my take some solace in the fact that their fixture pileup is lightened after crashing out of Europe.

After their FA Cup semi-final with Chelsea, the Blues can focus solely on Premier League duties as they are just six wins away from an English record fourth title in a row.