Pep Guardiola defiant despite Man City’s 3-0 Champions League mauling by Real Madrid

MADRID – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola struck a defiant tone after watching his side suffer a crushing 3-0 loss to Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on March 11, insisting his team will bounce back despite the mountain they now face.

Federico Valverde’s superb first-half hat-trick inside a 22-minute spell was the highlight of the match, even as Real were missing several key players – including star man Kylian Mbappe – at the Santiago Bernabeu.

“Now everything is more difficult in our mindset, but we’ll be there. We’ll try with our people at the end. We agree we can do better to be most active in the final third and we’ll try,” Guardiola told reporters.

The City boss, who has faced Real 29 times in his career, winning 14 matches, could at least take some comfort from avoiding an even heavier defeat when goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma saved a penalty with little more than 30 minutes remaining.

“I didn’t feel powerless, (but) we didn’t generate chances that (Real goalkeeper Thibaut) Courtois had to stop,” Guardiola added, showing characteristic resolve despite his team’s struggles.

“We got into the box but lacked the final ball... my feeling is that we were not so bad, but this result means that feeling isn’t backed up. The result is clear; there are 90 more minutes to go (in the second leg).”

On the other side, Real coach Alvaro Arbeloa was celebrating a performance that provided welcome relief in what has been a roller-coaster campaign.

Crucially, Valverde has been unleashed under Arbeloa, after a difficult first half of the season consigned to playing mostly at right-back under Xabi Alonso.

The midfielder has now scored as many goals in the first half as he had managed in his previous 75 Champions League appearances combined.

“I don’t know if in the end he’s going to end up hating me because of how annoyingly I’ve been nagging him about trying to convey how important he is to the team,” Arbeloa said.

On the match, the coach added: “The feelings we were getting from outside were not of much confidence in this team, (but) we showed we’re Real Madrid and you can never count us out.”

In another game, Chelsea coach Liam Rosenior defended Filip Jorgensen after the Denmark goalkeeper’s mistake sparked a late collapse which saw his side lose 5-2 to a rampant Paris Saint-Germain at the Parc des Princes.

“Players make mistakes and Filip is not the first one. It is part of football but obviously it is bitter,” said Rosenior in reference to a Jorgensen pass which was intercepted and led to Vitinha scoring PSG’s third goal.

That came in the 74th minute, after Chelsea had twice come from behind with Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernandez replying to strikes by Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele for the hosts.

Even after that, Joao Pedro was then denied a third equaliser because of a tight offside call, before Khvicha Kvaratskhelia’s late brace gave PSG a three-goal advantage to take into the return leg.

“It is a very disappointing result on an evening where for much of the game I was really happy with the performance,” Rosenior added.

“The last 15 to 20 minutes were crazy in many aspects and that is on me.”

Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta, meanwhile, called Kai Havertz’s penalty against his former side Bayer Leverkusen an “extraordinary” tale.

Substitute Havertz stepped up to score in the 89th minute, snatching the visitors a 1-1 first-leg draw ahead of the March 17 return match at the Emirates Stadium. Leverkusen captain Robert Andrich had scored the opener.

Havertz played four seasons at Leverkusen but moved to English Premier League side Chelsea in 2020, winning the Champions League with the Blues before signing with Arsenal in 2023.

“Football writes crazy stories,” Arteta told reporters. “It’s of course extraordinary that Kai returns here after so many years and converted the penalty. It’s a great story.” REUTERS, AFP