Manchester City boss Pep insists his side must learn from Schalke scare after Premier League club rally to beat German team 3-2 in Last 16 first leg
Raheem Sterling celebrates scoring Man City's winner aganist Schalke in the Champions League Last-16 first leg tie on Wednesday. Pic/AFP
Pep Guardiola says Manchester City will not challenge for this season's Champions League title unless they learn from their dramatic 3-2 win at Schalke with 10 men on Wednesday.
"We will not go far in this competition unless we improve," said City manager Guardiola. "At the end, the quality of [Leroy] Sane and [Raheem] Sterling made the difference. The result is good, but we gave the first two penalties away and the red card, so we are not ready to fight for the Champions League."
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City were in trouble at 2-1 down with 22 minutes left when Nicolas Otamendi was sent off before goals by Leroy Sane and Raheem Sterling in the last five minutes swung the Last-16 tie back in their favour.
Pep Guardiola
Schalke led at half-time
Schalke led at the break as the Video Assistant Referee (VAR) twice intervened to award penalties, both converted by Nabil Bentaleb, cancelling out Sergio Aguero's opener here.
Despite a delay of over three minutes, after a technical error meant the match referee could not check Otamendi's handball for the first Schalke penalty, Guardiola said he is a fan of VAR. "The VAR needs time, they will improve, the screen was broken, next time they will be better," said Guardiola. "I support the technology, because they [referees] need the help."
Guardiola's main gripe with his side's display was that they leaked two goals despite Schalke only having two shots on target over 90 minutes. "They hardly got a shot on target but got two goals, so we have some work to do," said the Spaniard.
Three crucial away goals
"To go away and score three goals, I am delighted, but it's not enough at this level. We gave them the opportunities to be in the game and we have to improve on that. If you had told me we would score three goals away, I would have signed for that. We showed personality, but we gave them options to be in the game," said Guardiola.
Sane sorry for goal against ex-club
Gelsenkirchen: Leroy Sane admitted feeling sorry for his free-kick goal against ex-club Schalke that helped Man City seal a 3-2 win in the Champions League. The winger, a product of Schalke's academy, who left for City in 2016, equalised off a free-kick. "Yeah, I was a bit," Sane said when asked if he was sorry to score against Schalke. "I couldn't celebrate. I was pleased for my team, but to score a goal like that against my 'former love'... it was very emotional for me."
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