Pep Guardiola refused to condemn Atletico Madrid’s darkish arts because the LaLiga aspect lost manipulate within the dying tiers of the goalless draw with Manchester City.
City survived a bruising come upon with the LaLiga champions to attain the Champions League semi-finals after a hard-fought draw inside the Spanish capital. Guardiola’s side battled an intimidating environment and a fired-up home facet. But they edged via a tense zone-very last on the Wanda Metropolitano courtesy of remaining week’s 1-zero first-leg win.
Atletico completed with 10 guys as Felipe was despatched off. The Atletico man escaped a reserving for a horrible assignment on Phil Foden within the first half. But he changed into purple carded overdue on for kicking out at Foden after tackling the City guy.
Man City midfielder Ilkay Gundogan went close to scoring when he hit the post within the first half and he nearly received it late on. But the visitors had to dig deep within the 2nd half of.
Guardiola, speakme to BT Sport, said: “It is the champion of Spain and they performed with electricity and in second half of were higher than us and we had been fortunate we didn’t concede. In the first half of we had probabilities, ordinary we are inside the semi-finals – it is nicely deserved.
“The opponent is so tough. All the teams in Champions League come right here an suffer so it's miles critical we undergo.”
Asked if Diego Simeone’s side overstepped the mark, Guardiola replied: “Nothing to mention.
On Phil Foden being centered, he said: “I don’t know I can not communicate approximately what different people do, I don’t recognise.”
On City’s injuries: “We are in huge hassle, so we can’t forget about we played 3 days in the past. We travelled, come right here, have a whole lot of injuries now and I don’t understand what will appear within the next weeks. But these days we celebrate because it is the 1/3 time in Manchester City’s history we are inside the Champions League semi-finals.
