Pep Guardiola conceded his Manchester City side had “not much” chance but refused to rule out a dramatic fightback against Real Madrid in the Champions League last 16.
City face a steep uphill task to reach the quarter-finals after Federico Valverde’s stunning first-half hat-trick propelled Real to a 3-0 win in the first leg of their tie at the Bernabeu Stadium on Wednesday.
It could have been even worse for City had Gianluigi Donnarumma not saved a penalty from Vinicius Junior after the break.
Guardiola said: “It is a bad result, we cannot deny it.
“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 what chance City had, Guardiola added: “Now, not much but I’m not a guy to say we’re not going to try.
“Now it is 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 had gone into the game as favourites due to Real’s inconsistent form in LaLiga and lengthy injury list. Kylian Mbappe, Jude Bellingham and Rodrygo were among their big-name absentees.
Despite the result, Guardiola felt there were positives to take from the performance.
He said: “I don’t have the feeling we had a problem. 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.
An incredible finish 🤩
— Football on TNT Sports (@footballontnt) March 11, 2026
Federico Valverde scores the first hat-trick of his career for Real Madrid!@tntsports & @discoveryplusUK pic.twitter.com/2xnE4JkpqG
“But we didn’t score and Real Madrid have always been very dangerous. We reached the byline many times – six, seven, eight times – so we’ve done a good job, we were just missing the detail.
“I’m not saying Real didn’t play well but our game was not as bad as this result.”
Captain Bernardo Silva felt City lost their early grip on the game.
The Portuguese said on TNT Sports: “The environment we could not control and I think my team let the emotions change the game.
“We felt comfortable and were finding the right spaces but after conceding the first one, we lost completely the control, we stopped controlling transitions and second balls.
“When you play against Real Madrid with the quality they have, you pay the price.
“Now it feels really bad, now it feels really dark. Tomorrow is another day and for sure next week we will go to the game thinking we have a chance.”
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