Pep Guardiola Hits Back At Critics Questioning Manchester City's 'Mentality' In Real Madrid Meltdown

Pep Guardiola has hit back at critics who have questioned Manchester City's mentality in their Champions League defeat to Real Madrid.

City were dumped out of the competition on Wednesday night after a dramatic capitulation in their semi-final second leg at the Bernabeu.

Leading 4-3 from the first leg at the Etihad, City looked to be on course for the final when Riyad Mahrez's second-half goal put them further ahead in Spain.

Jack Grealish then had two golden opportunities to kill the game late on but his shot was cleared off the line by Ferland Mendy before Thibaut Courtois produced a brilliant save to deny the former Aston Villa man for a second time.

That save proved to be the catalyst for an incredible comeback as two quickfire goals from Madrid substitute Rodrygo sent the tie to extra time, before Karim Benzema's penalty sealed victory for the Spanish champions.

Speaking on Friday, Guardiola gave a tetchy response when asked if City's failure to beat Madrid was because of a mental issue.

"There is no time for mental, they scored 45 seconds later [after Rodrygo's first goal]. There's no time to settle down. That's why all the analysis, how do you control that?," said Guardiola, as reported by the Manchester Evening News.

"The emotion of the players, tell me how they feel that in that moment. We don't think they want to lose, they want to accept the crowd, score the second one.

"It's football. It happens. We have to accept it, we tell them they have to score goals all the time.

"Now people say lack of character. Lack of character? What happens if Jack Grealish scores the two goals? Where is the character in Atletico [in the previous round] when Ederson saves from [Andrea] Correa. That's character but if he scores it's no character.

"When Courtois saves with his feet and goes to the corner, that is no character?

"Margins are this, we have to handle it, maybe we have more time after the kick-off, [to] know exactly when to go long ball from Eddy. You play with emotions, you have to control emotions. In that moment emotions favour Real Madrid.

"When it was 3-1 in that moment we were hot, Madrid were down, I was there. One minute later, throw-in, 3-2. You have momentum, football in this competition is momentum.

"The players in the Premier League know they have another game. This competition there is no time. It happened immediately.

"Madrid deserve it because they're in the final. If we scored more and defended properly like the first goal from Rodrygo, we would deserve it.

"I never complain about these things, always we can do better. Next season if we are here and together that is what we have to do."

City must bounce back quickly when they return to Premier League action against Newcastle at the Etihad on Sunday.

City are currently top of the table but are just a point ahead of Liverpool, who face Tottenham at Anfield on Saturday.