Manchester City eliminated Atletico Madrid to progress to the semi-finals at the Estadio Wanda Metropolitano on Wednesday.
City coach Pep Guardiola took his time to analyze the match.
“Make no mistake, I didn’t criticise Atletico,” Guardiola said after the game. “I said that it’s always difficult to attack against a team that defends very well.
“I didn’t expect anything else from Atletico, I said it in the press conference, it was a completely different game.”
On time wasting by Manchester City players, the boys further explained.
“There were throw-ins,” Guardiola said. “We tried to take them. We didn’t know what to do and it was a back and forth…. That’s all there was to it.”
Pep Guardiola admitted that he is expecting another serious test of his team’s credentials against Real Madrid in the semi-final.
“The kings of the competition,” Guardiola said, asked about the semi-final. “It was always going to be only a matter of time before it was complicated.
“It’s our third semi-final of the competition. If we play like we did in the second half we won’t have a chance. We’ll try to play like we did in Manchester and at times in the first half here.
“We came here from a game with no time to prepare for this one. They [Atleti] were very good. It was very difficult. We’ve held on.”
