Cardiola: The city was close – Al-Ittihad newspaper

Madrid (Reuters)

After the shocking upsurge that sent Real Madrid to the Champions League final, Manchester City manager Pep Cardiola conceded defeat to his team.
England were 1-0 up, scoring the second goal a minute later, until substitute Rodrigo equalized for Real Madrid in the final minute.
As Real Madrid won 3-1 and 6-5 at the Santiago Bernabeu, Karim Benzema completed the rise with a penalty in extra time.
“We were close, we were close, but in the end we failed to make it to the finals,” Cardiola told BT Sport. “We did not play in the first half. We did not perform well enough, but we did not. After we scored, we were the best team.”
He added: Real Madrid cross-scored a number of players with Mildo, Rodrigo, Vinicius and Benzema in the penalty area and scored two goals. Just like this match, we have to accept it.
The Champions League title is still missing from the coffers of England, who won their only continental title at the 1970 Cup Winners’ Cup.
City were eliminated from the Champions League semi-finals against Real Madrid in 2016, and then eliminated in the quarterfinals against local rivals Liverpool and Tottenham Hotspur in 2018 and 2019 respectively.
The team was eliminated in the quarterfinals against Olympique Lyonnais in 2020, losing 1-0 in the final against Chelsea last season.
Cardiola, who leads the English Premier League by one point, said: “We have to deal with defeat in the last four games of this season and return with our fans.