Pep Guardiola has admitted that Manchester City are still a work in progress following their latest exit from the UEFA Champions League at the hands of Real Madrid.
City were knocked out for the third consecutive season by the Spanish giants after a 2-1 defeat on Tuesday. Vinícius Júnior scored twice against a 10-man City side, while captain Bernardo Silva was sent off early in the match for handling a goal-bound effort.
The tie had largely been decided in the first leg at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium, where Federico Valverde scored a hat-trick to give Madrid a commanding advantage.
Guardiola acknowledged that the red card limited his team’s ability to fully compete, although he noted that the contest was more balanced compared to last season’s heavy aggregate defeat.
Manchester City are currently undergoing a rebuilding phase, with Silva among the few remaining core players from the squad that secured four consecutive Premier League titles between 2021 and 2024.
“Still we are not complete. There are moments where we need to be more clinical, but my feeling is it will be a question of time,” Guardiola said.
“We are not a complete team, that is a reality. I’ve been in a team at Manchester City where we were complete in all aspects. Still we are not, but we have a final on Sunday, and important games ahead.”
City have an immediate opportunity to respond as they prepare to face Arsenal FC in the League Cup final. They currently trail the Gunners by nine points in the league title race and are also set to take on Liverpool FC in the FA Cup quarter-finals next month.
Despite winning the Champions League during the 2022/23 season, Guardiola acknowledged that securing just one European title in a decade could be seen as a slight blemish on his record.
He added that he hopes City will eventually reach the standards set by Real Madrid, where anything less than Champions League success is viewed as failure.
“I would love this club to be like Madrid, where if you don’t win the Champions League, it is a failure. That is pressure,” he said.
“At City, it is not yet the expectation. In time, maybe we will get there.”