Manchester City managed to put a positive point behind a bad week on Saturday. After all, they qualified for the final of the FA Cup after a difficult win against Chelsea. That eased the pain of being eliminated from the Champions League a little bit.
On Wednesday, City was defeated by Real Madrid on penalties, resulting in the cup holder being eliminated from the tournament in the quarter-finals. That obviously hit the Etihad very hard. Pep Guardiola revisited that elimination on the sidelines of the match against Chelsea.
Man City won CL thanks to Miss Lukaku
The City coach suddenly pointed to Romelu Lukaku. “We lost on penalties even though we were very good. Last year we won the Champions League because Lukaku only headed Ederson from three meters – three meters! – and we were an incredible team then. “How good are Manchester City not?'” the Spaniard recalled.
“Against Real we tried everything, but we couldn’t score. At this level the margins are so small. You have to accept that. It’s in the stars or something. That’s football,” he concluded.
City were less fortunate this season
In the final of the Champions League, Lukaku, then still with Inter, missed a unique opportunity in the penultimate minute to bring his team alongside. His miss left the score 1-0 and allowed City to win their first Champions League.
However, the English were less lucky against Real. They pushed the Royals away for the entire match, but failed to convert on more than one of their many chances. Real was efficient and scored with its first real opportunity in the opening quarter. After that it also remained more cool in the penalty shootout.
