Guardiola's Magic Takes Flight; Arbeloa Looks to Champions League Success
Pep Guardiola claims biggest challenge was Klopp not Real Madrid, but Arbeloa has ‘long career ahead’ Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has praised Real Madrid counterpart Alvaro Arbeloa after his side were eliminated from the Champions League, stating that he has a long career in management ahead of him. Despite being on the end of a fourth defeat to Real Madrid in the Champions League knockout stages in five years, he did not call Los Blancos his greatest challenge as a coach. As happened in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu, Guardiola’s side dominated the opening proceedings, but were unable to capitalise on the scoresheet.
Vinicius Junior’s penalty and Bernardo Silva’s sending off after 20 minutes all but ended their chances of getting back into the tie. “We are an extraordinary team, extraordinary. The first 15 minutes today; the first 15 minutes at the Bernabeu.
The mistake that led to our first goal… we didn’t defend a long ball to Valverde well. We are an extraordinary team, we play very good football. Congratulations to Real Madrid and to all of you (laughs),” he told Diario AS after the game.
“We have a lot of potential to build, there are talented young players. We’re not a complete team yet; we were in the past, in every aspect, and now we’re not. There are still games to play, we’re going to make good decisions for those games, and we’ll be back in the Champions League.
I’m part of that; if I say we’ll be back, it’s because I’m part of it. Why does everyone want to find me a way out? I have a contract.