City manager Pep Guardiola said the manner in which the 3-3 home draw against Feyenoord in the Champions League played out was “hard to swallow”.
City dominated the match for 70 minutes and took a 3-0 advantage thanks to a brace from Erling Haaland and a goal from Ilkay Gundogan.
However, Feyenoord reduced the gap in the 75th and, in a dramatic finale, scored twice more in the final 10 minutes to equalize and take an unlikely point.
Despite this, City could have won the match, with Jack Grealish seeing his shot in stoppage time crashing off the bar.
The result extended City’s run of six games without a win and the team boss admitted it was difficult to digest.
“It’s hard to swallow at the moment,” Guardiola said.
“The match was good, we scored three goals and we could have scored more. And ultimately, we weren’t stable enough to win. »
“We played a good game, but we weren’t able to control the last few minutes. »
“We have to accept it. The team has put a lot of effort into many areas. »
“It happened today. We are not capable of winning matches. »
“After the third goal, we couldn’t score the fourth or fifth. »
“Unfortunately something happened and we weren’t strong enough. »
“Everyone knows what situation we are in. We must prepare and recover. We have a day off. »
Feyenoord’s comeback came after City made three substitutions in the second half, with Gundogan, Nathan Ake and Phil Foden making way for Kevin De Bruyne, James McAtee and Jahmai Simpson-Pusey.
The coach revealed the reasons for the changes, explaining that he wanted to avoid aggravating injuries to his reduced squad.
“Nathan is injured. Leading 3-0 with 20 minutes to go, I didn’t feel the match was in danger,” commented Pep.
“Nathan has been injured numerous times and I didn’t want to expose him. »
“Gundogan is our only defensive midfielder. Foden has played a lot of minutes and Kevin needs pace. »
“Kevin, like Macca and Jahmai, is very emotionally stable. Rico was playing very well and Matheus had the best moment of the second half with a wonderful assist. »
“We conceded a first goal and then we weren’t stable. »
