Pep Guardiola made his intentions clear with a teamsheet packed with attacking talent, but after some early promise it played into the hands of a Real Madrid team that was depleted, but still streetwise enough to expose City’s flaws.
Real’s first goal was a prime example, City caught with a routine long clearance from keeper Thibaut Courtois that dropped over Nico O’Reilly’s head for Valverde to run on to and beat Gianluigi Donnarumma.
This was not a case of wholescale tactical and technical errors of the sort that left Spurs embarrassed across this city a day earlier, but Guardiola’s positive approach opened the door for Real, who burst through it with relish.
Real made Guardiola pay a heavy price for his ambition, with City now facing Champions League elimination at their hands for the third successive season.
Guardiola felt his side’s performance deserved better, although he admitted City now face a mammoth task to turn the tie around.
“We may not have much chance to turn it around. Of course we are going to try,” said Guardiola.
“Our game was not as bad as the result. We’ve played quite a good game. We have tried to do our best. We did not create enough chances. When you’re able to do that, it means you have followed a good process but Real Madrid are always very dangerous.”
Donnarumma’s second-half penalty save from Vinicius offered some hope, Guardiola saying: “Obviously 3-0 is better than 4-0. It is a tough result. We cannot deny it. The quality they have with Valverde was great. It’s a difficult result but we have six days, recover. We will try again.”
