LONDON – Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola admitted that his side lacked composure to defend their lead, after Real Madrid struck twice late to snatch a 3-2 win in the first leg of their Champions League play-off on Feb 11.

City have dipped drastically from the high standards they have set during Guardiola’s glorious nine-year reign this season, with the concession of late goals a repeated issue.

The English champions have conceded eight times in the last 15 minutes of their previous five Champions League games to also blow leads against Feyenoord and Paris Saint-Germain in the league phase.

This time it is likely to be fatal for their chances of reaching the last 16 as holders Real head back to the Santiago Bernabeu in a commanding position for the second leg on Feb 19.

“I am not good enough to give the composure to the team to manage this situation,” said Guardiola. “The truth is we are not stable enough. It happened many times.”

Erling Haaland had twice given City the lead at the Etihad, either side of Kylian Mbappe’s equaliser for Real.

But City were undone by a catalogue of defensive errors to throw away the lead in the closing stages.

Goalkeeper Ederson compounded a poor clearance by parrying Vinicius Junior’s shot into the path of Brahim Diaz to level the score at 2-2.

Vinicius then took advantage of hesitant defending from Rico Lewis to race clear on goal and Jude Bellingham tapped home the Brazilian’s wayward effort into an unguarded goal in the 92nd minute.

“After the 2-1, it happened like it happened this season many times against Feyenoord, Sporting Lisbon, Brentford, Manchester United,” added Guardiola.

“In the end we gave it away ourselves and at this level it’s so difficult. It’s not the first time.”

City defender John Stones said Guardiola had called for more accountability from his star-studded squad to dig themselves out of a rut.

“It’s a feeling of anger and frustration,” he said.

“We need to see games out better. The manager said we need to take accountability for what we do on the pitch. We need to step up when these bad moments happen.”

Former Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney, in his role as a pundit on Amazon Prime, felt that this City team were not mature enough in the big moments.

“There was a lot of naivety from Manchester City, especially late in the game,” he said.

“The players tonight were looking round at each other, almost with a lack of belief in each other, and I think that is a worry for Guardiola.

“When you are 2-1 up against Real Madrid with a game coming up at the Bernabeu, you have to say: ‘Let’s be sensible’, let them have the ball in their half, reset.”

The sides are meeting for the fourth consecutive season in the Champions League.

Real have won two of the previous three ties with the winner on each occasion going on to lift the Champions League.

However, in stark contrast to their previous visits to the Etihad, where City dominated, this time the Spanish giants had the majority of the chances.

Victory was even sweeter for the 15-time European champions as they travelled to Manchester without their entire first-choice defence.

David Alaba, Antonio Rudiger, Eder Militao and Dani Carvajal were missing, forcing midfielders Aurelien Tchouameni and Federico Valverde to line up in the backline alongside youngster Raul Asencio.

“The four defenders, who never played together before, were able to play a good game because the team worked really well defensively,” said Real coach Carlo Ancelotti.

“The more emergencies there are, the more this team sacrifices. I didn’t think in this moment the team was capable to sacrifice like this.”

The Italian was also full of praise for his side’s efforts after they fought back to win the game. 

“I think it was a complete game in all aspects, beyond criticism from my part,” he added.

“Everyone worked hard. We had a lot of chances. We didn’t give up when we were behind. It was a well-rounded, unblemished performance. I think we deserved the win.” AFP, REUTERS

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