I could not convince Manchester City players to attack, says Pep Guardiola after Monaco defeat

Manchester City were beaten 3-1 by Monaco in the second leg of the round-of-16 Champions League clash on Thursday. City were leading 5-3 from the first leg and were favourites to progress. However, Monaco played a sublime game of football and progressed to the last-eight owing to the 6-6 aggregate on away goals.

For City manager Pep Guardiola, his failure to convince his players to be aggressive was the reason behind their elimination. “I tried to convince them in all the meetings we had to come here, try to attack and score,” said Guardiola. “My mistake was being not able to convince them to do that. I did [convince them] in the second half but it was too late.”

Guardiola felt that his side played their game only in the second half and by then it was too late. Monaco had already struck two goals in the first half. “All managers make mistakes but I don’t think it was down to a tactical mistake,” Guardiola said. “It’s simple. The difference was between the first and the second half. In the second half we tried to win the game, we tried to play. I did it all my career in that way. But the problem was the first half. We weren’t there.”

The second half saw City trying to find their groove, with Leroy Sane’s strike making it 2-1. However, Tiemoue Bakayoko headed the third for Monaco to take them to an easy win. City’s defence was exposed yet again. However, Guardiola said that defence wasn’t the problem. “It’s not about the defence,” he said. “Today was not about that. Why was the second half a problem with the defence? Our strikers have to be aggressive and pick the ball up, but we didn’t at this crucial time. That’s why we are out.”

This is the first time a team managed by Guardiola has exited the Champions League in the round-of-16 stage. “I came here to win the Champions League. I tried, I tried – and I will try again,” he said. “Playing like we have done this season, like in the second half, would have been enough. The competition is so demanding. Hopefully, we are going to learn so that, next season, we can come back here and make the same performance we did at the Etihad for the whole 90 minutes.”