Guardiola Vows Man City "Will Be Back" After Champions League Heartbreak

At their home turf of Etihad Stadium, Manchester City was eliminated from the UCL following a 2-1 loss to Real Madrid, losing the match 5-1 on aggregate, with the first leg resulting in a 0-3 defeat. This is the third season in a row that the English football giants have been knocked out by 15-time Champions League winners Real Madrid. However, manager Guardiola hailed his team's "spirit" throughout the match and asserted that there is still plenty to fight for.

Bernardo Silva was given a red card for a handball in the 20th minute, and Vinicius Jr converted a penalty in the 22nd minute to give the Spanish giants a lead. A 41st-minute strike from City Superstar Erling Haaland kept the team in the game heading into the half-time, and the three-time champions needed something extraordinary to pull off a comeback. However, another extra-time goal from Vinicius served as the final nail in City's coffin.

Speaking after the match, Guardiola said, as quoted by the club's official website, "They (his team) have always shown incredible spirit. It's tough being 3-0 down and then 4-0 at 10 v 11, it is almost impossible."

"When I analyse the game, I love the way we started and played, I would love to play 11 v 11 but in football these circumstances happen," he added.

The treble-winning manager also hailed Real Madrid as an "extraordinary team who punish you when you make a mistake."

"The future will be bright, and next season we will be back. We will learn. Sport is a challenge. We congratulate Madrid and we will go home and have the feeling that we could not play a proper game 11 v 11 to see what happened."

"Next season I do not know what happens but of course Khusanov, Cherki, Semenyo, it is the first time they play Champions League. This can take time. I see a lot of good players and many good things. The first 15 minutes there and the first 20 minutes here define us quite well. Here we said 3-0 was difficult, almost impossible, but let us try. We were there," he added.

City is still in contention for the Premier League crown, sitting in second spot with 61 points, 10 points clear of toppers Arsenal. They are also supposed to play the FA Cup quarterfinal in April against Liverpool. Their most immediate challenge is Sunday's Carabao Cup final against Arsenal.

"We will challenge the best team in England and so far the best team in Europe. We will challenge them, and then we will play them in the Premier League," Pep added.

"Sometimes they are better, and it is a good mirror to see what we have to do to achieve that. We have a final on Sunday, the FA Cup is still here, and we have a Premier League still to fight. We will try to fight and prepare good decisions for next season. We will be back."

"One game is not big happiness or the end of the world. We will prepare and see who we are," he concluded.

- ANI