Pep Guardiola believes that Manchester City’s experience played a vital role in their victory over Bayern Munich in the Champions League.
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City demonstrated their experience and ability to navigate difficult situations in the Champions League during their 4-1 aggregate win over Bayern Munich, which saw them reach the semi-finals.
Despite a 1-1 draw in the second leg at the Allianz Arena, City had already secured a 3-0 victory in the first leg and will now face defending champions Real Madrid in the next round. Guardiola described his team as “exhausted” after the match.
Erling Haaland missed a penalty in the first half but later scored his 48th goal of the season to give City the lead.
However, in the end, Joshua Kimmich prevented City from securing their 11th successive victory with a late penalty awarded for handball against Manuel Akanji.
Manchester City are aiming for a treble this season, as they have advanced to their third consecutive European semi-final, in addition to being in the hunt for both the Premier League and FA Cup.
Guardiola admits City struggled in the first half
Pep Guardiola, who faced his former club Bayern Munich in his 400th game in charge of City, believes that their experience is playing a significant role in their success.
He told BT Sport: “We struggled in the first half. [Dayot] Upamecano broke all the lines down our left side and we struggled with [Kingsley] Coman.
“We were fortunate before the penalty miss, they had one or two chances and anything could happen but we defended really well.
“The finishing from Erling was really, really good. He is so young. The experience that we have in this competition, the players feel it a lot, they want to do it really well. The second half was much, much better since minute one.”
Guardiola is worried about fatigue as Manchester City are set to face Sheffield United, a Championship side, in the FA Cup semi-final on Saturday.
He added: “We are exhausted. I don’t know how we recover to play against Sheffield United [in the FA Cup semi-final].
“Now is a tough moment for the game on Saturday, but we have to play then as [Manchester) United play in the Europa League [so play Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup on Sunday].”
