Barcelona punished us – Pep Guardiola
PEP Guardiola’s return to Camp Nou was not a happy one, as former club Barcelona thumped Manchester City 4-0 in the Champions League on Wednesday.
Lionel Messi pounced after 17 minutes to open the scoring, and had his hat trick after goals in the 61st and 69th minutes, before Neymar wrapped it up in the 89th minute.
READ: Wednesday night’s full UCL wrap
The match also saw a straight red card for City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, while Barca defender Jeremy Mathieu got his marching orders for two yellow cards in quick succession.
“It is hard to play Barca, but until we went down to 10 players, it was open and we were competing against a team with a big personality,” Guardiola said.
“The first goal was due to an unfortunate slip and then for 10 minutes we were a little bit confused, but we were there; we were in the game.
“We were pressing, we had the possession and we made the chances but we didn’t take them and you have to do that to win the game – especially against this team.
“But after the red card, it was over. Every game since Celtic has been the same – we have had own goals, missed penalties and we need to change the way things have been going.
“We created enough chances and arrived at the by-line many times – enough chances to score one or two goals. We know Barca and if you give their strikers an opportunity, they punish you.” Kickoff.com