Guardiola cannot explain another late collapse in City’s loss against Real

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola had no explanation for yet another late collapse as his team lost 3-2 at home to Real Madrid in the Champions League playoffs on Tuesday to leave their campaign hanging by a thread ahead of the second leg.

Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham struck late to erase City's 2-1 lead, the latter netting the winner in the 92nd minute at the Etihad Stadium where the mood swung from joy to despair.

“We arrived at the last minute with a result and we could not keep it,” Guardiola told a press conference.

“After 2-1, it has happened in many games, against Feyenoord in the Champions League [City led 3-0 in the 74th minute but were held to 3-3], against Brentford in the Premier League, against Manchester United; many games we give away at the end.”

Erling Haaland's double, including a penalty in the 80th, had City poised for a win over the holders and LaLiga pacesetters but leads have proved slippery this season for Guardiola's side, who are fifth in the Premier League.

They have conceded seven goals in the final 15 minutes of Champions League matches this term.

“There was a lot of naiveté from Manchester City, especially late in the game,” former Manchester United forward Wayne Rooney said in his role as a pundit on Amazon Prime.

“The players tonight were looking round at each other, almost with a lack of belief in each other, and I think that is a worry for Guardiola.

“When you are 2-1 up against Real Madrid with a game coming up at the Bernabeu, you have to say: 'Let's be sensible', let them have the ball in their half, reset.”

Guardiola said the responsibility “belongs to all of us, not just the players”.

“I don't have a problem to accept. To blame one specific player, that is ridiculous. It's all of us, me first. And of course the players as well.

“They want it, how they run, how they do it, but the truth is we are not stable enough in that [crucial] moment.”

City, who won the Champions League in 2023, and 15-time winners Real both failed to advance automatically to the last 16 as one of the top eight sides in the new Champions League format, with City finishing 22nd to scrape into the playoffs.

The second leg is next Wednesday in Madrid. 

Kylian Mbappe and Brahim Diaz also struck for Madrid, to cancel out Haaland's double.

Haaland opened the scoring in the 19th minute when Josko Gvardiol chested the ball down to the 24-year-old Norwegian, who volleyed into the far corner. The goal was given after fans held their breath through a four-minute VAR check for offside.

Mbappe levelled in the 60th with a rebound off a free kick.

Haaland struck from the penalty spot in the 80th — awarded after Dani Ceballos took down Phil Foden by his right knee in the box — sending keeper Thibaut Courtois the wrong way. But then Diaz pounced on a poor clearance of Vinicius Jr's shot by Ederson, and tapped home the ball.

England international Bellingham scored the winner in the 92nd when Vinicius looped the ball over from the left and the Englishman got in front of John Stones to tap home.

Also on Tuesday night, Paris St Germain seized control of their playoff with a commanding 3-0 first-leg win at Brest, driven by a brace from forward Ousmane Dembele.

PSG broke the deadlock after 21 minutes, with Vitinha converting a penalty after Pierre Lees-Melou's handball. The visitors doubled their lead when Dembele cut inside from the right flank and beat the keeper at his near post with a low strike, scoring in his eighth consecutive match for PSG.

In the 66th, Dembele secured his brace, latching onto a loose ball in the box before sending a shot past Brest keeper Marco Bizot.

Juventus substitute Samuel Mbangula snatched a late winner as the Italian giants beat PSV Eindhoven 2-1 in the first leg of their Champions League knockout phase playoff tie on Tuesday.

The Belgian's 82nd minute close-range finish handed Juve a slender advantage to take to the Netherlands for next week’s return leg after PSV fought back from a halftime deficit.

A thunderous strike from Weston McKennie had put the hosts into a 34th minute lead but Ivan Perisic, who turned 36 this month, put PSV level 10 minutes into the second half.

Borussia Dortmund forward Serhou Guirassy scored one and set up another in a 3-0 victory at Sporting to put last year's finalists in the driving seat for a spot in the last 16.