Sergio Aguero was critical of ’s furious reaction to Riyad Mahrez’s costly miss during last night’s classic semi-final first leg between and .
City will travel to the Bernabeu next week with a slender advantage following a seesaw 4-3 victory at the Etihad Stadium, but they will feel they should be out of sight having created numerous chances to put the tie to bed.
Guardiola’s side raced into a two-goal lead inside 10 minutes with Kevin De Bruyne and Gabriel Jesus puncturing Real’s defence.
The Premier League champions had the opportunity to extend that advantage still further in the 25th minute when De Bruyne played in Mahrez but the City winger blasted his shot into the side-netting, having spurned the opportunity play a square pass that would have presented Phil Foden with a tap-in.
Guardiola responded by gesticulating wildly on the touchline, waving his hands in fury at Mahrez, much to the annoyance of City legend Aguero, who was commentating on the game via his Twitch channel along with his former teammate Mario Balotelli.
‘I don’t like Pep getting angry like that,’ said Aguero, City’s all-time leading goalscorer. ‘He scolded Riyad. I hope he scores a goal.
‘Once against Tottenham I got angry with Pep and we yelled in each other’s faces.’
Mahrez hit the post early in the second half as City continued to dominate, but they were ultimately forced to settle for a narrow win with Karim Benzema and Vinicius Junior helping the Spanish side claw their way back into the contest.
‘Regardless of the result, if it was 2-0 or 3-0 we would still have to go to Bernabeu and play well,’ said the City manager after he and his team were forced t settle for a narrow win. ‘If we play like we did in the second half, we won’t be able to win. If we play like we did at other periods, we will. We want to be there to put on a good show, that is what I want to tell my players to do – don’t think of anything else.
‘When I became a footballer and a manager, when you go to the Bernabeu you have to perform as yourself or there is no option to win. You have to come through these situations to win the Champions League.
‘We miss them but we create them but we were there all the time. No complaints about the result, the performance, anything. I am so proud of the way we perform in front of the world. We did everything to win and with courage – with the ball, without the ball.
‘Football is football, the result is the result, but how we perform is exceptional. Nobody can say the performance was not good. We know we have to maybe raise the level to reach the final but this competition demands that. At the end maybe the chances we create we have to convert.
‘I want to convince my players that we won the game and heads up. We were two up but even two or three or four you have to perform. They have the ability to score three goals in 10 minutes. It is a good test for ourselves.’
, .
,  and .
