Guardiola names his only mistake vs Real Madrid. he admitted he got his tactics wrong during the first half of Manchester City’s win against Real Madrid in the Champions League.
The Spaniard made four changes to the side that defeated Madrid 2-1 at the Bernabeu back in February. Raheem Sterling replaced Riyad Mahrez on the right with Phil Foden starting the game as the false nine in place of Bernardo Silva.
City’s high press resulted in Sterling scoring the opener but Madrid hit back through Karim Benzema to ensure the scores were level heading into half-time.
A second mistake from Raphael Varane allowed Gabriel Jesus to score the winner after the interval to seal City’s place in the last eight.
Guardiola said City aimed to press the recently crowned champions high up the field but believes he told his wide players to play too narrow during the first 45 minutes.
“We try to do it [press], sometimes it works and sometimes it doesn’t. In general we did a good job,” he told BT Sport.
“We could not expect after 30 minutes be 4-0 up. The second half didn’t have much but we created a lot. The players made an incredible effort – all of them.
“The first half we played with our wingers more inside, not wider. I think that was a mistake from my side. We corrected in the second half and were better.”
Guardiola expanded on his mistake during his post-match press conference, believing the position of his wingers meant they received the ball in the wrong areas.
He added: “In the first half our wingers were more inside than outside and it was not good.
