Pep Guardiola insists his Manchester City side are NOT good enough to win the Champions League. The City boss saw his side come from behind against
But a stunning late free kick from Leroy Sane and a cool finish from Raheem Sterling pulled off a miraculous comeback in Gelsenkirchen. However, Guardiola insists that unless his side learn from their mistakes, then they can forget any thoughts of European success because they won’t get out of jail against better opponents. “Three goals and the result is an incredible result but still we are not ready to fight for the Champions League,” he said.
Pep wasn’t impressed at how his side managed the game. “We played good and started really well but we lost some easy balls and we’re not allowed to do that in this competition especially with two penalties. The personality and the way we play is nice but it is not enough. We gave them the opportunity. Maybe we realise with the result and learn from that but every stage is more difficult,” he added. “To go away and score three goals and the way we react 10 v 11 the way we play the second half. I am more than delighted but it is not enough in this competition. We gave them the two penalties and the red card and in the latter stages if we do that we are out. We are a nice team to watch yes, and we score an incredible amount of goals.
City will be without both Otamendi and Fernandinho in the second leg on a fiery night in Germany, where City players were noticeably unhappy with Spanish referee Carlos del Cerro. He gave a penalty for handball against Otamendi in the first period, having initially pointed for a corner, on the advice of VAR – despite not being able to see a replay himself due to faulty pitch side monitors.
That is a major embarrassment for UEFA, but Guardiola said: “It was a penalty and I am a big fan of VAR and the second one was penalty as well. And the red card is a red card. “But they had one shot on target and scored two goals.”
Sterling, who scored the winner, added: “It was a really tough game, we made it difficult for ourselves at times but we stuck together, even with 10 men “For my goal, it was a little nudge in the back of the defender and I took my opportunity and we got the win. We have had some difficult patches this season, you can’t win every game 3-0 and in the Champions League the opposition can hurt you.”