Manchester City lost the first leg of their Champions League playoff against Spanish giants Real Madrid on Tuesday night, falling to a late Jude Bellingham goal - and City fans in the Manchester Evening News comments section say that the result is hard to take after coming so close to leaving the tie with the advantage.
City began well enough, going ahead twice thanks to an Erling Haaland goal and penalty, but found themselves stunned by late Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham efforts in the space of six minutes. Ederson and Rico Lewis appeared at fault for the goals in the late collapse, with Pep Guardiola saying that "we are not stable enough in those moments".
He added: "I've been here for many years and we've been an extraordinary team, a machine every three days. This year, I accept when the opponent is better but at the moment I'm not good enough to give composure to the team to manage these situations.
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"I can't be angry with my team because we know the team we're facing. The question is sometimes when you're playing at this level and you have that good result so close, to let it slip out of your hands is more difficult to accept. I think about a lot of them and think about how they suffered but we are not able to close and be solid in decision making to be better."
Another City turnaround has been tough to take for fans. Reader Blue.bee.leaf says: “Such a shame to end up losing after the lads put such a big effort in. I kind of know when City are going to compete from the tempo they start at, and tonight was good in that regard.
"There were many good performances overall, but these silly mistakes have cost us again. I know it's not the City way, but I can live with a row Z when we're so close to an important result.
"Sorry to see lads leaving early again with injuries, but we have 8 days until we do or die in Madrid. I said it would be a big ask over 180 minutes, but we're only one goal down at half time. Still to play for.”
Commenter Skps writes: “Hard one to swallow, twice on the lead. For the last few weeks it's been the same schoolboy errors. Playing a high line, but can't handle pacey attackers when they turn defence to attack. Our defence is too slow to deal with those high through passes. Midfield not dictating the middle of the park.”
Badknee says: “Don't think we deserved to win the game. With better finishing it could've been 4 or 5 to Madrid. After brilliant success the bulk of this City squad has run out of legs. We're done after 60 - 65 minutes. Fear the worst next week.”
Smallsteve writes: “So Pep, it’s not working like it used to, and so are we going to change this tired approach? We’ve been found out time and again in exactly the same manner. I suspect we’ll carry on in exactly the same manner.”
Mancmac64 says: “The biggest mistake was to disrupt the balance of the team by taking KDB and Foden off with 6 minutes to go. Stupidity. They both had another few minutes in them. We all know Real have a habit of scoring late on.”
De Bruyne Blue writes: "The tactics worked for the most part. I would have liked to see City be more attacking but Pep understands City cannot handle breaks on the transition. And the plan worked pretty well. But Akanji going out and taking off Ake and forcing Stones into the back four hurt a lot. Stones played very well in the 6. I can only think Nico wasn’t fit. If he was you have to ask why he wasn’t brought on instead of Kovacic.
"In the end this was what all these ties and matches are between these two. City in control and with the lead but Madrid always makes a comeback. Unfortunately Ederson had a tough final 10 min and Rico was Rico. On to next week. We’ll see how it goes."
Have your say! What must change for the reverse fixture? Comment below, and join in on the conversation.
