Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola admitted that his squad faced a “difficult” uphill battle playing a man down against Real Madrid in Tuesday night’s Champions League clash.
The Premier League champions entered the second leg needing to overturn a 3-0 deficit from their previous meeting at the Bernabéu.
However, their comeback hopes took a major hit when captain Bernardo Silva was sent off with a straight red card for a goal-line handball.
Vinícius Júnior converted the resulting penalty to put Los Blancos ahead on the night.
While Erling Haaland eventually pulled one back to make it 1-1, Vinícius struck again to seal a 5-1 aggregate victory for the Spanish giants.
Reflecting on the match with Amazon Prime, Guardiola remarked: “It’s difficult once you are 4-0 down and playing 10 men against 11. But we did everything.”
He continued, “It’s a little bit of a learning. But it should have been 11 against 11. But we never know. Maybe we lose 6-0 but it’s a fact.”
The manager also tipped his hat to the opposition’s shot-stopper, noting, “[Thibaut] Courtois is a fantastic keeper. First 15-20 minutes was good but after that it was 10 against 11 and it was difficult.”