Guardiola hails team after slim win over Atletico Madrid

 

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has praised his team for the 1-0 victory over Atletico Madrid in the first leg of their UEFA Champions League quarter-final fixture.

Guardiola spoke on the backdrop of their 1-0 win on Tuesday evening, while also giving accolades to the Spanish side led by Diego Simeone.

The Spaniard hailed the Madrid-based side, stating that they were top quality. He also said that the low-scoring 1-0 victory is a good result claiming that his side will hope to go to Madrid next week and try to score at least a goal.

“We played an incredible top side who are difficult to face, but it is a good result. We had chances to score a second and third. It is not easy to face a team with a lot of experience in this tournament. We will go there to score and try and win again.” Guardiola said.

After a first-half performance that saw neither side recording at least a single shot on target, Manchester City took the lead deep into the second half through Kevin de Bruyne.

Assisted by Phil Foden, De Bruyne slide home a well-weighted pass in the 70th minute.

Manchester City will now focus on their Premier League fixture against Liverpool at the weekend, which could easily be the title-deciding match in the Premier League this season.

While Manchester City is top of the table with 73 points, Liverpool follows in second with 72 points with just eight games left this season as both sides are separated by just one point.

Meanwhile, Liverpool got an emphatic 3-1 win over Benefica in Portugal through French defender Ibrahima Kanote in the 17th minute.

Sadio Mane doubled the advantage in the 34th minute of the first half, while Benfica put one back early in the second half through Darwin Nunez, but Luis Diaz completed the victory for Liverpool.

 

Written by: Collins Nwokolo