Pep Guardiola hits back at Real Madrid claims with Jurgen Klopp confession
Pep Guardiola name-checkedJurgen Klopp as he pushed back against the suggestion that Real Madrid have been the biggest challenge of his career after Manchester City were once again dumped out of the Champions League by the Spanish giants.
City were beaten 2-1 on the night and 5-1 on aggregate to exit the competition in the last 16. Bernardo Silva was sent off in the 20th minute after conceding a penalty which Vinicius Junior scored and Erling Haaland's consolation goal was cancelled out by another strike from Vinicius late on.
It means that Real have now knocked City out of the Champions League in three successive campaigns. In fact, no other side has been responsible for their exit since Guardiola's side lost the 2021 final to Chelsea.
Nevertheless, Guardiola was in no mood to hail Real's prowess in the competition post-match. Asked by a reporter if Real had been the biggest challenge of his career, he responded with a smile in comments translated from Spanish: "No, Jurgen Klopp at Liverpool was the biggest challenge. You almost don't realise what it was like to face Liverpool.
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"Those games were a great learning experience for the team, because to play a team like us who had not been in the competition 12 or 13 years ago and the generation that we had, they have won those games sometimes, Real Madrid have beaten us, we've won some. We've had great times as well."
He did have some nice words for his opponents, stating: “Madrid are an extraordinary team and punish you when you make a mistake.
“The future will be bright and next season we will be back. We will learn. Sport is a challenge. We congratulate Madrid and we will go home and have the feeling that we could not play a proper game 11 v 11 to see what happened."
Guardiola's words are born out by the statistics. He has faced Real Madrid 30 times as a manager of Barcelona, Bayern Munich and City, winning 14, losing 10 and drawing on six occasions. Meanwhile, his record against Klopp's Liverpool and Borussia Dortmund sides reads: played 30, won 11, lost 12, drawn seven.
City have been all-conquering under Guardiola in the last 10 years, but they have only won the Champions League on one occasion, in 2023. They were beaten in the final by Chelsea in 2021 and have frequently come unstuck against Real, who until recently were led by Carlo Ancelotti - the only manager to have achieved more than Guardiola's three titles, with five to his name.
Guardiola will now turn his attention to the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal on Sunday. City also have an FA Cup quarter-final against Liverpool on April 4 and a nine-point gap to Arsenal in the Premier League to try and overcome.
"We are not a complete team, that is the reality," Guardiola admitted. "I've been with a team at Manchester City when we were a team in all the different aspects that define a team. And still we are not.
"But in terms of that, we still have a final on Sunday, with have an FA Cup [tie] with Liverpool here, we have the Premier League still to fight and finish well. We will prepare good decisions for next season and next season we will be back in the Champions League."
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