Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City’s poor opening half in their 3-1 defeat to Monaco is the reason behind their Champions League exit.
City found themselves two goals down by half-time at the Stade Louis II but Leroy Sane’s strike put Guardiola’s men back on course for a place in the quarter-final.
That was until Tiemoue Bakayoko’s found the net with 13 minutes remaining, which put Monaco through on away goals.
‘At this level, you have to play more than 45 minutes. We only played for 45 minutes. We created a lot of chances then but our strength is to be aggressive without the ball,’ said Guardiola.
‘And in first half we were a little bit slow in everything, which is why we have conceded a lot of goals in Europe.
‘In the second half we were there, created chances, missed a lot. The set-piece broke our tempo and rhythm at the right moment for them but this 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 in the first leg at the Etihad for the whole 90 minutes.
‘No, it’s not about the defence. Today was not about that… why was the second half a problem with the defence?
‘The problem was the first half when we were not there. Our strikers have to be aggressive and pick the ball up, but we didn’t. That’s why we are out.
‘We have to play more than 45 minutes. It’s not about the defence and the goalkeeper. In the second half we won the second balls and how many chances did they create? Nothing.
‘The gap between our first and second half performances was too big. It will help us a lot in the future and learn from that. That is my feeling now.’
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