Pep Guardiola's four-word Man City confession proves Mauricio Pochettino Chelsea claim right
From Chelsea's perspective, Wednesday evening could not have gone any better for them.
Arsenal, their fierce rivals, were beaten at Bayern Munich in the Champions League quarter-final, meaning the Blues are still the only team in London to have won a European trophy. Also, Saturday's opponents Manchester City were beaten by Real Madrid on penalties after playing over 120 minutes of gruelling football beforehand.
Los Blancos took the lead early on in Manchester through Rodrygo, to give the 14-time Champions League winners the 4-3 advantage on aggregate. However, former Chelsea man Kevin De Bruyne scored deep into the second-half to send the tie into an additional 30 minutes.
The extra-time period was a cagey affair and the match went to penalties. Luka Modric missed Madrid's first spot-kick but Bernardo Silva and another former Chelsea midfielder in Mateo Kovacic could not score for City, to send the Champions League holders out of the competition.
Pep Guardiola will be devastated he cannot add another European cup to his collection but he will also be annoyed his team were made to play 120 minutes just three days before a trip to Wembley to take on Chelsea. Erling Haaland was taken off before the extra-time period started and De Bruyne was substituted towards the end of the additional 30 minutes.
«They asked me to go out,» Guardiola said on his decision to substitute De Bruyne and Haaland. «They could not continue.»
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