After the first leg of Man City's Champions League match against Real Madrid ended in a 1-1 draw at the Bernabeu, Pep Guardiola referred to the second game as a "final."
Despite City controlling the ball and appearing to be the more dangerous team in the first half, Vinicius Junior gave Los Blancos a lead in Madrid.
Similar to how Real's goal was against the flow of the game, the visitors' equalizer came from Kevin De Bruyne after their greatest period of play.
Guardiola told BT Sport after the game: "When we were better, they scored." He felt the outcome was a fair representation of a close game. We won when they performed better. It was a really close-fought contest.
It's very difficult. We are the same, but [real] are so good, experienced, and [have] quality.
The manager continued, "We had good moments and it was sometimes difficult with the quality they have with the ball." The second game will be played at the Etihad on Wednesday. But 1-1, the championship will be held at our house on Wednesday.
The second game teaches you a lot from the first when you play these games like a play-off, so hopefully we can learn and become better defenders and attackers.
Erling Haaland, who recently set a Premier League record for most goals scored in a single season, played poorly and didn't have much of an influence.
'The space between the central defenders and the full-backs was occupied for offensive midfielders,' Guardiola said of the striker's performance.
Erling played in close proximity to a twin center defender, which was challenging for him, but he moved well and created several opportunities.
After the draw on Tuesday, City's treble chances are still in play, making them the slight favorites to advance to the final.
In addition, they have a game in hand over second-place Arsenal in the Premier League standings and will play Manchester United in the FA Cup final the following month.
In the Champions League, the other semifinal game will be played at the San Siro on Wednesday night. It will be the first time AC Milan and Inter have faced each other in a European competition.
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