Pep Guardiola says he is proud of his Manchester City players and the fans despite suffering Champions League heartbreak against Tottenham. City won an amazing quarter-final second leg 4-3 on the night, but went out on the away goals rule as Fernando Llorente’s 73rd-minute goal made it 4-4 on aggregate.
City’s hopes of a quadruple, which Pep Guardiola always thought would be tough, are over, but for a short moment, they thought they were through after Raheem Sterling’s late strike, which was ruled out by VAR. That left Guardiola feeling understandably glum after the game, but he knew conceding two goals in the opening 10 minutes was crucial.
“Yeah, it is tough. It would be better if don’t concede, but we are close to going through,” the Spaniard said. “It is cruel but it is what it is we have to accept it. It was a nice game for everybody, a lot of talent, after 20 minutes it was 3-2.
“Second half we did everything. It was not easy to create chances but we create a lot. We make mistakes in that competition but were punished a lot. We knew it, we scored the goals we needed, unfortunately, it was a bad end for us.
“Congratulations Tottenham and all the best for the semi-finals. We create an incredible amount of chances today. I am so proud, especially for the fans. It was an amazing night for us. “I never saw the stadium like tonight since I was here in Manchester. I know they know we gave absolutely everything. Football is like this, it is unpredictable.”
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