MANCHESTER, England — Pep Guardiola has revealed the Manchester City squad watched the final minutes of Benfica‘s dramatic win over Real Madrid in the dressing room and were panicking when goalkeeper Anatoliy Trubin was sent forward before scoring the crucial fourth goal.
A late goal for Real Madrid in Lisbon would have earned a 3-3 draw and seen City slip out of the Champions League top eight.
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Instead, with the score at 3-2, Benfica boss Jose Mourinho urged Trubin into the penalty area in the 98th minute and the Ukrainian goalkeeper headed in a fourth to seal a 4-2 win that booked their place in playoff on goal difference.
The result ensured City finished eighth in the table and will not face a two-legged play-off in February.
But as players and staff watched the drama unfold, Guardiola admitted he was worried when Benfica left their goal unattended to push for another goal.
“We were all there so we didn’t know Benfica needed a goal to qualify so when the goalkeeper goes up, we say, “why you go?” because Madrid can equalise and we are out,” said Guardiola.
“But it was a good strategy for Jose to score the fourth goal, right!”
Asked whether he would be sending his old rival Mourinho a thank you message, Guardiola replied: “Yeah, of course.”
It was a good night for Guardiola, who saw his team do their job on the night and beat Galatasaray 2-0 thanks to goals from Erling Haaland and Rayan Cherki.
The one downside was an injury to Jérémy Doku, who set up both goals before going off with a calf problem.
“The first half was better than the second half,” said Guardiola.
“Really pleased to finish in the top eight considering how the Champions League has become.
“When I started 16 or 17 years ago, the Champions League was another type of competition. Today every team is really, really tough.
“I’m really pleased we don’t play in the playoff stage and hopefully we can arrive in March [for the last 16] at our best.”
