Manchester City’s hopes of reaching the last 16 of the Champions League hang in the balance after a dramatic late collapse against Real Madrid.
The English champions took the lead twice through Erling Haaland, but were undone by a series of defensive errors, allowing Madrid to snatch a 3-2 win in the first leg of their play-off.
This defeat is a significant blow to City’s chances, with the holders now in a commanding position ahead of the second leg at the Santiago Bernabeu on February 19.City’s lack of composure in defending a lead has been a recurring issue this season, with the team conceding eight goals in the last 15 minutes of their last five Champions League games.
This trend has seen them blow leads against Feyenoord and Paris Saint-Germain in the league phase, and manager Pep Guardiola acknowledges that his team lacks the stability to manage these situations.
I am not good enough to give the composure to the team to manage this situation,” he said. “The truth is we are not stable enough. It happened many times.” The City boss also expressed frustration at his team’s inability to see out games, saying “After the 2-1, it happened like it happened this season many times against Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, Brentford, Manchester United. In the end we gave it away ourselves and at this level it’s so difficult. It’s not the first time.”The defeat has left City’s players feeling angry and frustrated, with defender John Stones calling for more accountability from the squad. “It’s a feeling of anger and frustration,” he said. “We need to see games out better.
The manager said we need to take accountability for what we do on the pitch. We need to step up when these bad moments happen.” Stones also acknowledged that the team had missed a great opportunity to take a lead to the Bernabeu, saying “Today we had a great opportunity to go to the Bernabeu with a 2-1 lead.
The sides are meeting for the fourth consecutive season in the Champions League, with Madrid having won two of the previous three ties.
The winner on each occasion has gone on to lift the Champions League, adding to the pressure on City to turn the tie around.Madrid’s victory was all the more impressive given the absence of their entire first-choice defense, with David Alaba, Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militao, and Dani Carvajal all missing.
Manager Carlo Ancelotti was forced to deploy midfielders Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde in the backline alongside youngster Raul Asencio, but his team still managed to dominate the game and create numerous chances. “It was a very good performance from us,” Ancelotti said. “We have to be content with the result as well even though we had lots of opportunities. We didn’t deserve to be 1-2 down. We were really dangerous but in the end the win is deserved.” The Italian also praised his team’s defensive effort, saying “The four defenders, who never played together before, were able to play a good game because the team worked really well defensively.
The more emergencies there are, the more this team sacrifices. I didn’t think in this moment the team was capable to sacrifice like this.
PROF’LEE9JA⛱️ MEDIA
