Publications
Partners
Cape Town - Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has backed his side to turn around a 3-0 defeat to Liverpool in the first leg of their Champions League quarter-final.
The Reds stunned the runaway Premier League leaders with goals from Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane at Anfield on Wednesday evening
The result gives the Reds a significant advantage, but Guardiola feels it is not an insurmountable task for his players ahead of the second-leg next week.
The City boss told reporters after the game: "There are 90 minutes more, we are going to try.
"I believe a lot in my team. They show me many good things in the season. The result is so tough, you cannot deny it.
"Today you are talking about Real Madrid going through, Barcelona going through, Bayern Munich going through and Liverpool going through.
"But we have 90 minutes all of us - Sevilla, Juventus, Roma and us. We are going to try. It is so complicated because we are going to play a top, top team. We have the permission to believe it."
On the match itself, the former Barca and Bayern boss added: "When you play badly, and the opponent is much better than you and it is 2-0 you have to accept it.
"But I do not have that feeling. Maybe tomorrow when I review the game I will say it was a disaster, but I do not have that feeling."
Guardiola also paid tribute to their opponents. He said: "The last 10 minutes of the first half and second half, it was good. We didn't create many chances but neither did Liverpool in the second half.
"But the result speaks for itself, congratulations to Liverpool."
Up next for City is a Premier League derby with Manchester United on Saturday, and Guardiola knows that is another challenge for his side.
"It is what it is, we have to accept it. Now in two days we have United at home (and) then two days after we have Liverpool. We’ll see what happens.
"Nobody believes we will go through. We will convince ourselves to do it tomorrow."
The next leg is scheduled for Tuesday, April 10 at the Ethihad Stadium.
Kick-off is at 20:45 (SA time).
