Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said his side are “fragile” after letting a three-goal lead slip in Tuesday’s 3-3 Champions League draw with Feyenoord.
Guardiola’s side had led 3-0 after 53 minutes before Feyenoord scored three times in the final 15 minutes to earn a draw and extend City’s winless run to six matches in all competition.
The result, according to Opta, sees City become the first team in Champions League history to be leading a match by three goals as late as the 75th minute and fail to win.
“The game was fine, 3-0 and playing good. But then we concede the three goals because we are not stable,” Guardiola told Amazon Prime. “We give them the first (goal) and it’s difficult.
“We lost a lot of games lately and we are fragile and we need a victory and the game was good for the confidence, we were playing at a good level.”
Erling Haaland gave City the lead with a first-half penalty, and this was followed early in the second half by a deflected Ilkay Gundogan finish and Haaland’s second to put the hosts in control.
Anis Hadj Moussa capitalised on an under-hit back pass from Josko Gvardiol to pull one back for the visitors after 75 minutes, and Ederson was beaten at his near post as Santiago Gimenez reduced the deficit further with eight minutes of normal time remaining.
Ederson then rushed from his goal but was beaten to the ball by Igor Paixao as David Hancko scored an 89th-minute equaliser.
“I don’t know if it’s metal (fragility),” Guardiola added. “The first goal cannot happen and the second as well, and after that we are desperate to win to do well. We do well but we don’t win games.
“There are a lot of good things but after 3-3, (there is) nothing much you want to say. At that level we cannot give them (goals) away.”
The result leaves City 15th in the Champions League league phase on eight points from five matches, two points adrift of the automatic qualification places for the knockout stages.
“Right now I am not ready to think about that (potentially needing to win the final three games to finish in the top eight),” Guardiola added. “We have to recover and prepare for the next game. If we are not able to win games like we did today it is difficult to do it.”
City return to action against Premier League leaders Liverpool at Anfield on Sunday.
GO DEEPER
The Briefing: Manchester City 3 Feyenoord 3 – Defensive disarray, expectations lowered, glimpses from Gundogan
(Carl Recine/Getty Images)
