Pep Guardiola blamed Manchester City’s players for failing to be ‘stable’ in their Champions League collapse against Feyenoord. The Premier League champions enjoyed a comfortable 3-0 lead in the 75th minute, only to dramatically concede three times in a remarkable ending.
Erling Haaland’s brace and Ilkay Gundogan’s defelcted strike seemed set to end a five-game losing run. But in the latest setback for Guardiola and his players, they somehow allowed three goals in 15 minutes and are now six games without a win heading into Sunday’s crunch Premier League clash with runaway leaders Liverpool.
The City boss was particularly furious with Feyenoord’s first goal, which came after Josko Gvardiol’s poor backpass ensured Anis Hadj-Moussa was able to round Ederson and convert from a tight angle.
But the worst was yet to come as Santiago Gimenez and David Hancko scored after more City errors. It is the first time a Guardiola team has failed to win after going 3-0 ahead in over 900 matches.
“The game was fine at 3-0, playing good, but then we concede a lot goals because we were not stable. We gave them the first and then the other one, that is why it was difficult,” Guardiola told TNT Sports.
“We lost a lot of games lately, we are fragile and of course we needed a victory, the game was good for the confidence. We were playing a good level but the first time something happened we had problems.
“I don’t know if it is mental. The first goal cannot happen and the second as well. After that we forget what happen, we were desperate to win and do well, we do well but don’t win games.
“The situation is what it is. We played a good game but at that level we can’t give them away.”
City are now outside of the automatic qualification spots in the league phase of the Champions League. Their eight points are some distance from the 16 it is widely accepted will be enough to finish in the top eight places.
It is likely that City will need to beat Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain and Club Brugge to be certain of avoiding a play-off tie.
Guardiola added: “Right now I am not ready to think about that [need to win final three games to finish top eight]. We have to recover and prepare for the next game. If we are not able to win games like we did today it is difficult to do it.”
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