Pep Guardiola launches staunch defence of his Man City selection calls in Real Madrid loss

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Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola made a number of changes to his team but was unapologetic about his decisions

Pep Guardiola defended his Manchester City decisions after his changes for the Real Madrid game backfired horribly. The Blues were stunned 3-0 at the Bernabeu as a team that started with three wingers supporting Erling Haaland were unable to score.

City's lineup had supporters worried before a ball was kicked given it appeared to deviate from the two systems that have got the team to this point in their season, going into the tie as favourites to progress beyond the Spanish giants. Despite a bright start with Jeremy Doku lively on the left wing, City were poor defensively and were punished three times in the first half by the brilliant Real captain Fede Valverde.

Guardiola switched things up at half-time by bringing midfielder Tijjani Reijnders on for winger Savinho but it could not inspire a change in the 3-0 scoreline. Rayan Cherki, Rayan Ait-Nouri and Omar Marmoush also shifted the lineup without altering the result.

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However, the City boss insisted after the game that he was pleased with the performance of his team however difficult a position they have put themselves in. Guardiola was happy with the threat that they carried against Real, and disappointed that they were unable to make it count.

"No, not many changes," he said. "More changes at Newcastle, in the last games most of the players played. I wanted them aggressive on the outside one against one. Jeremy was outstanding, and we struggled a bit more on the right. We arrived many times to have the sense that we could score a goal and try to see what happened in the second, but they arrived three times and scored three goals.

"We arrived in the final third many times - it was a dream - but before the ball came in those moments. They adjusted, they put five in the back, and sometimes transitions was good and sometimes not, Real Madrid are a good quality team with good quality players and we couldn't score the goal that we needed."

When it was put to him that his changes to the selection had also had an impact on the width of the team and their protection in midfield, Guardiola again dismissed the idea that it was significantly different. Explaining his individual decisions for the game, the City boss stood by his big calls.

"How many times has Nico O'Reilly played left back this season? How many times? The only adjustment was Khusanov in that areas because Vinicius arrives in those areas and you have to control that," he said. "The rest? Wingers were injured for two months, and they played incredible - Savinho at Newcastle and Jeremy was an incredible threat here.

"People arrived with Bernardo Silva and Rodri, we covered runners with Nico and Antoine. That was the idea. I did rotation in Newcastle with 10 different players and it was fine, so understand what I'm saying. Part of this was for wingers to try to drop them and people in the middle in pockets to arrive close to the box, control to the striker and second striker with experienced, fast players in behind."