Pep Guardiola has expressed himself sportingly about opponent Real Madrid after the horror elimination in the Champions League. Although the Manchester City manager saw his team dominate the entire game, he praised the ‘experienced’ Madrilenians for their resilience in the final phase, when they came out on top 3-1. Spanish media speak of a ‘Bernabeu syndrome’, although a player from arch-rival Barcelona thinks that Real are failing.
Until the final minute at the Santiago Bernabeu, City led 0-1 thanks to a goal from Riyad Mahrez. However, Rodrygo turned it around completely with a double strike within two minutes. Given the 4-3 result in the first game in Manchester, that meant extra time. Karim Benzema detonated the home stadium in the 95th minute by scoring the 3-1 from a penalty kick. Real managed to hold onto that lead until the final whistle, making City’s Champions League dream go up in smoke again.
THEY JUST DO IT AGAIN! †
You don’t put a man in shape on the couch, do you?! Substitute Rodrygo completely turns the game around and suddenly it is 2-1 for Real Madrid ???
We’re going to renew, it’s insane again! †#ZiggoSport #UCL #RMAMCI pic.twitter.com/Omn7Rcllpv
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) May 4, 2022
What a resilience! †
Manchester City already had their heads in the final, but Benzema now virtually shoots Real Madrid to Paris ??
What a denouement! †#ZiggoSport #UCL #RMAMCI pic.twitter.com/yeUDSttvDM
— Ziggo Sport Football (@ZS_Voetbal) May 4, 2022
It was the sixth lost semi-final in the billion-dollar ball for Guardiola – a record he shares with Jose Mourinho – but the Spaniard nevertheless remained sporty. “We were brilliant, except for the end. But in the end it’s about who scores more and they have done that once more.” Guardiola thinks ‘psychological advantage’ played a big part in ‘s ‘remontada’ the Royal† “The Real Madrid players have experienced this before. We have not.”
Ancelotti, who reached the final battle of the Champions League for a record five times, can confirm the mental benefit. “The game was almost decided,” the Italian judges, “but we managed to find the last energy we had. When we equalized, we had a psychological advantage in extra time.” The 62-year-old coach also reveals that he had already secretly considered such a scenario: “We showed the players a video of all the comebacks we had made this season. There were eight. The video ended with ‘ONLY ONE TO GO’ and now we’ve done it.”
While Sport mentions a ‘Bernabéu syndrome’ – Real managed to reach this far in the Champions League by, among other things, through sensational comebacks against PSG and Chelsea in the eighth and quarter finals respectively – Dani Alves thinks that los Blancos falls short. “Football friends,” writes the right-back of arch-rival Barcelona on Instagram. “Just like in life, there is no such thing as luck in football. Either you dominate the game or the game dominates you. Ah, what would football be without the Brazilians!”, Alves finally praises his compatriot Rodrygo.