•Manchester City’s Spanish manager Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola believes a new-look Manchester City need time to match the feats of his earlier years in charge after bowing out of the Champions League to Real Madrid for the third consecutive season.
Vinicius Junior’s double inflicted a 2-1 defeat on 10-man City yesterday, who lost captain Bernardo Silva to a red card after just 20 minutes at the Etihad Stadium.
Most of the damage was already done in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu thanks to Federico Valverde’s hat-trick.
Guardiola bemoaned the chance to truly test the 15-time European champions due to Silva’s dismissal for handling Vinícius’ shot on the goal-line.
Despite the scoreline, the tie was far more evenly contested than Madrid’s 6-3 aggregate victory when the sides met last season.
City have embarked on a major rebuild over the past three transfer windows with Silva one of the few remaining key figures from a squad that won four consecutive Premier League titles under Guardiola between 2021 and 2024.
Guardiola’s men have an immediate chance to bounce back when they face Arsenal in the League Cup final on Sunday.
But they trail the Gunners by nine points in the Premier League title race and face Liverpool in the FA Cup quarter-finals next month.
“Still we are not complete. Still there are things in certain moments (where) we need to be more clinical, but my feeling is it will be a question of time,” said Guardiola, who has won 15 major trophies during his decade in charge.
“We are not a complete team, that is a reality. I’ve been in a team in Manchester City where we were a team in all aspects. Still we are not, but we have a final on Sunday, FA Cup against Liverpool and the Premier League is still tight.
“We need to finish the Premier League strong, prepare good decisions for the summer and next season we will be back in the Champions League.”
Guardiola did lead City to Champions League glory in 2022/23, but just one European crown in 10 years is the one slight blemish on his record since arriving in Manchester.
However, he said he wants City to aspire to the demands of Madrid, where anything other than winning the competition is deemed a failure.
“I would love this club to be like Madrid where if you don’t win the Champions League, it is a failure. That is pressure.
“(At) City it is not the expectation. In time maybe we will get that.”
