The end could be said to be so fast for Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City going into Champions League round of 16 second leg in France. Manchester City crashed out of UCL

Manchester City a forth night a go beat Monaco to a 5-3 deficit at home to keep a hope of qualification into the next round of the competition, a mark they achieved after going two goals down, then came back to show character and willingness to succeeded, thus the end result which however left the French side with a hand full of advantage on away goal.

The calamity took the center stage when Monaco Kylian Mbappe swept home for the host at 8th minute of the encounter, as if that was not enough, Fabinho doubled the lead at the 29th minute to keep the hosts soaring so high with confidence going into second half, Sane however got a consolation for the English side at the 71st minute. Then comes Tiemoue Bakayoko’s header at the 77th minute to nail it off.

Manchester City crashed out of UCL

City looked more like a team without game plan in the first half and thus probably attacking conscious to have left much grounds for the hosts to penetrate and do the damage.

Among reasons for this tragedy amount to Guardiola’s decision to field an attacking side to build up of their 5-3 advantage which evidently backfired, they were overrun and sloppy at the back, which cost them two goals at the first half. While the third goal was born out of defensive mess.

Manchester City crashed out of UCL

On the wake of this woeful performance Pep Guardiola has resorted to flimsy excuses to their exit:

“”All managers make mistakes but I don’t think it was down to a tactical mistake.

“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. We wanted to show personality, not to let them think, but they could pass and pass the ball. We forgot to do that in the first half.

“My mistake was being not able to convince them to do that. I did in the second half but it was too late.”

When asked if the defense could have contributed to the tragedy he said:

“No, it’s not about the defence, today was not about that. The problem was the first half, when we were not there he stressed.

“Also our strikers have to be aggressive and pick the ball up, but we didn’t, this this crucial. That’s why we are out.

“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.

What next, City will clash against Liverpool on Sunday, to renew rivalry for the top four struggle in the English top flight, City are 3rd while Liverpool are 4th on the League table.

Manchester City crashed out of UCL