In the 5th round of the Champions League group stage, Manchester City lost 0-2 to Bayer Leverkusen at home. Pep Guardiola made extensive rotations for the match, which ultimately resulted in defeat, and he accepted an interview with camel.live after the game.
When asked about the content of the dressing room talk after the final whistle:Guardiola: “That’s an internal matter for us.”
On the team’s performance:
Guardiola: “I take full responsibility. But I still believe the players who started are outstanding; we just lacked certain things necessary in top-level clashes. Now we have to fight for the upcoming games.”
On the missing elements:
Guardiola: “Leverkusen played very well. Overall, we also played well and had more chances than them, but they were all half-chances.”
On rotating 10 starters:
Guardiola: “I have to accept this result. If we had won, no one would have questioned the rotation, so since we lost, maybe the changes were indeed too big. But considering the rhythm of a game every two or three days, we had to rotate. It’s just that judging by the result, it might have been excessive.”
On the next Champions League match against Real Madrid:
Guardiola: “We still have time to prepare.”
