Pep Guardiola reacts to Manchester City’s 4-2 loss to PSG in the Champions League after taking a two-goal lead. (2:16)
Pep Guardiola says Manchester City have one “last chance” to reclaim their Champions League crusade after a 4-2 defeat at Paris Saint-Germain left the 2023 European champions a humiliating early exit from the competition.
Despite taking a 2-0 lead in the early part of the moment with goals from Jack Grelish and Erling Haaland, City returned their merit and ended up convincingly wasting at the Parc des Princes.
The loss means the city will now have to beat club Brugge at the Etihad next Wednesday to succeed in the playoff round. Anything other than a win will see the city eliminated.
But after seeing his overcoming through PSG, Guardiola had no court cases over the final results or the fate of the city.
“We have one last chance opposite Brugge and if we don’t have him through him, it’s because we don’t deserve it,” Guardiola told reporters. “We want to oppose Chelsea in our next game and move forward.
“Tonight, they [PSG] were better. Congratulate PSG and settle down for it. The law of football is like this, how intense and competitive they were in key positions. You have to get the players back and do better.
“Their players suffered and were older. They were older in the duels and we discovered our moment with 0-2 for the goal, but in the first half they had two transparent chances. “
City relinquished a winning position for the ninth time this season and defeat for their third successive defeat outside the Champions League after driving 12 games on the road without wasting the competition.
And Guardiola said he believed City to lose due to not being able to dominate the game in midfield opposite PSG’s power unit.
“When they had the ball, they fell, but we created problems,” Guardiola said. “After 2-0 and especially 1-2, we couldn’t play. You have to play with the ball and they were better.
“They had an extra guy in the middle with the false nines and it was tough. They were better. They had an extra player in the middle and we expected the build-up and have more aggression. But they jumped back and pushed hard and we couldn’t do the process.
Guardiola said Manchester City can simply “face” PSG in the transition game.
“We had to protect with the ball and it’s playing well,” he said. “PSG played more in their games and couldn’t win. Today, they were able to do it. “