Guardiola says Man City players must keep their cool in Atletico return leg

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola called on his players to control their emotions in their Champions League quarterfinal return leg at Atletico Madrid next week.

Kevin De Bruyne’s 70th-minute goal earned City a 1-0 win on Tuesday in a game that had several flashpoints, including an incident in which a prone Jack Grealish was struck in the head from close range by a clearance from Angel Correa.

“We have to control our emotions and do what we have to do,” Guardiola said after Tuesday’s game. “There will be a referee there and we have to play our game.

"[Atletico] have faced this kind of knockout stages many times and it will be a good test for us with our maturity in this game.

“Jack reacted really well and stayed focused on what we needed to do.”

The Spaniard added that City would not simply look to defend their 1-0 advantage in Madrid and would be looking to kill off the tie.

“We’ve won the game with 1-0 and after 1-0 it was a bit different. All the players started to press a bit higher,” Guardiola said.

“If the game starts on the good side for Atletico, maybe they can come back in to the game.

“Now we have five days to prepare and review the game and try to [see] what we can do to attack a bit better and go there to not defend the result and try to win the game.”

The second leg will be at the Wanda Metropolitano in Madrid next Wednesday. Before that, City host Premier League title rivals Liverpool on Sunday.