MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola and his Arsenal counterpart Mikel Arteta were left with different emotions last night after their clubs were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League at the quarter-final stage.
Holders Manchester City were beaten 4-3 on penalties by Real Madrid after both teams were tied 4-4 on aggregate while Arsenal fell 1-0 at Bayern Munich last night and 3-2 on aggregate.
Guardiola, who secured a first-ever Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup Treble for City last season, felt his side should have beaten Real Madrid before the shootout.
“It is what is – sometimes you win on penalties and sometimes not. We should have done it before – for how we played,” the Spaniard said.
“I absolutely don’t have any regrets – we did everything offensively and defensively. Football is about scoring goals and they did it a little bit better than us from the penalty spot. They are in the semi-finals and we are not. I have to say from my heart, thank you to my players.”
Arsenal were eliminated as a result of Joshua Kimmich’s header in the 63rd minute at the Allianz Arena.
Mikel Arteta described his dressing room as ‘gutted’ in the aftermath of the defeat.
“I cannot find the right words to lift them, I wish I had. We have to go through it [this pain]. We tried against a team that has a lot of experience and through the tie I think the margins have been very small,” the Gunners boss said.
“There have been moments where we have been better. We gave them two goals [in the first leg], a big advantage to give away, and today you could see it was margin of error zero, we made a mistake defending, we conceded.
“Then it was difficult. We tried in many different ways but it’s difficult. It is the moment to stay next to the players, give them support, because they are the ones who have taken us on this journey.”
Both City and Arsenal are still in the race for the English Premier League title, with the former on top of the table and facing Chelsea in the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Saturday.
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