City's Treble Target Vanished, Guardiola: We Have Done Everything

Manchester, Beritasatu.com – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola sportively accepted defeat and had to bury his dream of winning the treble (three titles) for the second time in a row, after being defeated by Real Madrid in the quarter-finals of the Champions League.

14-time Champions League champions Madrid appeared to defend throughout the second leg match at the Etihad Stadium, before beating defending champions City 4-3 in a penalty shootout, Thursday (18/4/2024) morning WIB.

This was Madrid's revenge, after last season at the Etihad, the Spanish club failed to advance to the semifinals, being defeated by City, who eventually emerged as champions of the Champions League.

“Congratulations to Real Madrid, they defended so deep, with extraordinary solidity,” said Guardiola.

“We did everything. I don't regret what we did. Defensively, offensively, we played amazing in all areas, in everything, and unfortunately we couldn't win, so that's what happened,” he said.

After achieving their first treble last season, with the Champions League, FA Cup and Premier League titles, City appear to be on track to become the first team in history to claim the triple title in a second consecutive year.

But despite completely dominating the game, with 33 shots compared to Madrid's eight, Guardiola's men were unable to finish.

Kevin De Bruyne scored in the 76th minute to make the score 1-1 after Rodrygo put Madrid ahead in the 12th minute. The duo of De Bruyne and City's goal scoring machine Erling Haaland failed to score on a number of opportunities.

Victory appeared to be in City's hands when Luka Modric failed to convert Madrid's opening penalty. However, the momentum changed when Bernardo Silva's shot was immediately caught by goalkeeper Andriy Lunin, so Madrid players Nacho and Antonio Ruediger sealed the win.

“Football is about scoring goals and from the penalty spot they did it a little better than us,” said Guardiola.

“With penalties, someone wins, someone loses. From the way we played, we should have done that before. But we didn't take advantage of the opportunities we had. We performed as well as we could, but it wasn't good enough,” he said.

City have now turned their focus to chasing another FA Cup title on Saturday when they face Chelsea in the semi-final at Wembley. Guardiola's club is also two points clear at the top of the Premier League standings with six games remaining.