MADRID (AP) — The search for answers will continue for Pep Guardiola and Manchester City.
Guardiola couldn’t find a way to keep City alive in the Champions League on Wednesday, when another poor performance led to a 3-1 loss to Real Madrid and a 6-3 aggregate defeat to the Spanish powerhouse in the playoffs.
The Catalan coach looked agitated at times while trying to convey instructions to his players. On other occasions, he looked resigned and desolate, sometimes with his hands in his pockets or with his arms crossed.
Guardiola turned around in apparent disgust after seeing Kylian Mbappé score the opening goal in the fourth minute at the Santiago Bernabeu Stadium.
Guardiola went back to his bench for a few moments after the France forward added the second goal in the 33rd, and again after Mbappé completed his hat trick in the 61st. The coach took a much longer time to return to the sideline after the goal that sealed the hat trick by the France star.
When goalkeeper Ederson resorted to a long kick while under pressure in the first half, Guardiola twice turned to him with his arms spread wide, as if asking “Why?”
Guardiola had not failed to reach the last 16 in his previous eight seasons with City, his three with Bayern Munich and his four with Barcelona. City had reached that stage every time since 2012-13.
Guardiola was hoping he could fix the team’s issues in time to avoid the early elimination this season, the first in which the league phase and the playoffs stage was introduced. But the poor performances that affected the team the whole season proved costly, as it couldn’t qualify high enough to avoid the playoffs, where it was drawn to play 15-time European champion Madrid.
Guardiola, who led City to their first Champions League title in 2023, has been saying his team is “miles away” from where it should be, though it had showed spurts of the dominant squad that he led to a series of titles in recent years, including in the 4-0 rout of Newcastle in the Premier League on Saturday.
City sit in fourth place after 25 rounds in the Premier League, 17 points behind leader Liverpool.
A series of injuries have not helped Guardiola this season, with two of them affecting the team on Wednesday — Erling Haaland couldn’t start because of a knee injury sustained against Newcastle and John Stones had to be substituted less than 10 minutes into the match, also because of an apparent knee problem.
Guardiola has been without world player of the year Rodri for nearly the entire season because of a knee injury.
Rodri’s absence helped explain the team’s inability to dominate ball possession as it previously did in recent years, and the defensive woes have also proved costly this season. The Spanish midfielder is set to return soon, giving Guardiola some hope for the rest of the season.