Champions League: Guardiola explains how 'exhausted' Man City survived Bayern Munich grind
By Ayush Gupta | First Published Apr 20, 2023, 11:56 AM ISTUEFA Champions League: Manchester City was "exhausted" but dug deep to settle for a 1-1 draw against Bayern Munich away from home and seal its place in the semis. At the same time, Pep Guardiola explained how the Cityzens did it.
On Wednesday, it was a tough night for Bayern Munich and Manchester City in the second leg of the UEFA Champions League quarterfinal at the Allianz Arena in Munich. The two sides settled for a competitive and hard-fought 1-1 draw. However, with the visitors leading 3-0 from the opening home leg last week, they smoothly sailed into the semis, where they will clash against defending champion Real Madrid.
Erling Haaland missed a penalty in the opening half of the fixture. However, it hardly mattered as it scored in the second half. Meanwhile, Bayern's equalising penalty in the 83rd minute by Joshua Kimmich was not enough to see the Bavarians through to the semis. The tie also saw a later drama when Bayern head coach Thomas Tuchel was shown his second yellow of the night, leading to his send-off.
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In the meantime, City boss Pep Guardiola hailed his side for holding its nerves on an exhaustive night, as 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 well."
"The semi-final... Again!"
Pep Guardiola analyses progressing to yet another Champions League semi-final career in his career...
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"The finishing from Erling was good. He is so young. The experience we have in this competition, the players feel it a lot, and they want to do it well. The second half was much better since minute one," added Guardiola, as the Cityzens prepare for another complete series of fixtures, facing Sheffield United in the FA Cup semis on Saturday.
"We are exhausted. I want to know how we recover from playing against Sheffield United [in the FA Cup semis]. Now is a tough moment for the game on Saturday. Still, we have to play them, as [Manchester] United play in the Europa League [so before playing Brighton and Hove Albion in the FA Cup on Sunday]," Guardiola concluded.
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