Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City face a daunting task to keep their Uefa Champions League campaign alive but insisted his side will not surrender hope of a comeback against Real Madrid.
City trail 3-0 heading into the second leg of their last-16 tie after Federico Valverde produced a stunning first-half hat-trick at the Bernabeu on Wednesday night. The damage might have been greater had Gianluigi Donnarumma not denied Vinícius Junior from the penalty spot early in the second half.
Guardiola acknowledged the scale of the challenge but maintained that City would continue to believe.
“It is a bad result, we cannot deny it,” the City manager said. “The first goal was not well defended and after that the quality they had with Valverde and the other players, it was a difficult result.
“But obviously 3-0 is better than 4-0. We have six days. We will recover, go to West Ham, then with our people we will try.”
Asked directly what chance his side had of overturning the deficit, Guardiola replied with candour.
“Now, not much,” he said. “But I’m not a guy to say we’re not going to try.
“Now it is the most difficult moment to live but our mindset is we will look at what to do better, try to be more active in the final third and we will try.”
City entered the tie as favourites given Madrid’s uneven domestic form and a lengthy injury list that included Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo. Yet the Spanish champions once again demonstrated their ruthlessness in Europe, punishing City’s defensive lapses with clinical finishing from Valverde.
Despite the scoreline, Guardiola insisted the performance itself had not been as poor as the result suggested.
“I don’t have the feeling we had a problem,” he said. “I think we played quite a good game.
“We got to the box many times and when you are able to do that, it means you have followed a good process. But we didn’t score and Real Madrid have always been very dangerous.”
Captain Bernardo Silva echoed that view but admitted the team lost control after conceding the opening goal.
“The environment we could not control and I think my team let the emotions change the game,” he told TNT Sports. “We felt comfortable and were finding the right spaces but after conceding the first one we lost completely the control.
“When you play against Real Madrid with the quality they have, you pay the price.”
City’s defeat was not the only damaging result suffered by an English side on Wednesday night. Chelsea’s hopes of reaching the quarter-finals were severely dented after a chaotic late collapse in Paris handed Paris Saint-Germain a 5-2 victory.
Chelsea had twice fought back through Malo Gusto and Enzo Fernandez after goals from Bradley Barcola and Ousmane Dembele, and the match appeared set to finish level at 2-2.
Instead, a costly mistake from goalkeeper Filip Jorgensen allowed Vitinha to restore PSG’s lead before substitute Khvicha Kvaratskhelia struck twice late on to leave Chelsea facing a daunting return leg at Stamford Bridge.
Manager Liam Rosenior admitted the manner of the defeat was difficult to accept.
“A very disappointing result on an evening where for much of the game we were really happy,” he said. “The last 15 minutes were crazy.
“That’s on me. We need to be better in moments when setbacks and mistakes happen.”
Elsewhere, Arsenal salvaged a draw in Germany after Kai Havertz converted a late penalty against former club Bayer Leverkusen to secure a 1-1 first-leg result.
Robert Andrich had headed Leverkusen in front early in the second half before Havertz struck from the spot in the 89th minute after Malik Tillman fouled Noni Madueke.
