Pep Guardiola told BT Sport post-match that Manchester City were the better side, having done everything except score during their 2-0 Champions League defeat to Paris Saint-Germain on Tuesday night. However, he was as always purring with praise and appreciation for his former protegé Lionel Messi’s ‘fantastic’ goal, while also singling out Marco Verratti for special commendation.
Having come into the game off the back of a smashing Premier League win over European champions Chelsea after having lost thrice to them last season across all competitions, many had tipped them to blow PSG away with over-confident fans tweeting that Ruben Dias would easily ‘pocket’ Messi and Marco Veratti.
However, that was clearly not to be as goals from Idrissa Gueye and Messi – the Argentine’s first since donning PSG colors and a true Messi trademark gem with a 1-2 interplay with Mbappe – derailed the City locomotive to give PSG all three points.
After the game and justifiably, Guardiola insisted that his charges had outplayed their opponents, despite the scoreline suggesting otherwise. It was quite evident throughout the match that City had the edge overall with Guardiola having a more solid game plan than Pochettino except that the goals were not forthcoming at all despite numerous near misses.
PSG’s Argentine manager is indeed lucky to have gotten off the hook, having been undeniably blessed with a scary pantheon of some of the top talents in football who did not require many opportunities to find the back of the net, despite the MNM – Messi, Neymar, Mbappe – triumvirate still needing a bit more time to truly gel as a lethal trident.
“In the end we were better,” Guardiola told BT Sport. “It was a good performance and we did everything but could not score.
“We defended well, they defended deep and, of course, their counterattacking is always dangerous with the quality they have and, unfortunately, we could not control them from scoring but it is football.”
“I have nothing to say but my biggest compliments to the team.”
City missed several presentable chances during the game, with Bernardo Silva failing to convert an absolute sitter, smashing the woodwork twice from close range. Guardiola also went on to praise PSG’s goalkeeper Gianluigi Donnarumma, who did a stellar job between the sticks and pulled off numerous spectacular saves.
“In the second half we had many [chances] but Donnarumma made good saves.
“The team was there, just like at Stamford Bridge. The team is alive but it is a pity because we play to win. They don’t need much to score goals and they did it.”
Guardiola reserved special mentions for Messi and Verratti, as both were key in the victory.
“The goal [from Messi] was fantastic,” he said.
“If Messi is happy in Paris, I will be so happy for Leo,” Guardiola added. “And let me say I’m in love with Marco Verratti. He is an exceptional player. He is small but you can always count on him. I’m happy he’s back from injury.”