REAL MADRID 3-2 MANCHESTER CITY
Coach Jose Mourinho – Real Madrid:
“I’m proud of my team whatever the result was. I felt that things were not going in the right direction. Real Madrid can lose matches like tonight, fighting like animals, but not playing like in Getafe and Seville. It was important to get that feeling that when they want to, they can”.
“In Seville we had players who did not win a ball in ninety minutes. We did not win a rebound as a team and we just ended up tired after the match. Today was the opposite. The team was solid, compact, recovered balls and were committed as a team to play aggressively. We dominated and we won. City did not get a shot on goal in the first 45 minutes.”
“The team suffered. Conceding a goal and keeping going. Scoring and keeping going … that is Real Madrid. That’s honourable. I am nobody in the history of Real Madrid. I have just arrived, but as a coach I have the right to say that the Real Madrid wants to see this commitment. They want more quality and so do I. We had it in the past and we will have it again. It is difficult to play better than we played today. There was a tremendous commitment from the team and everyone is happy. Not only to rediscover last year’s DNA but also to win a big match. We have three points and we have taken an important step towards qualifying from a tough group.”
“The group is very difficult and I do not think we can do what we did last season with 18 points. Every point will be difficult. Manchester were thinking of getting a draw. They were very defensive in the first half. I was prepared for that type of play. Then Mancini changed things. They scored the goal and the game opened. Khedira started moving and I finished with Modric and Alonso. The result meant that decisions had to be made. It was a very nice match for football fans.”
“Real Madrid wants to win the historic tenth and we will fight for it. We have to go for all of the titles that we can. We’ll end up with them all or with the Super Cup, but you have to give everything in every match. Football is great when you leave everything on the field.”
Coach Roberto Mancini – Manchester City:
“We didn’t defend as we can on the edge of the box and made some mistakes – we cannot continue to defend this way and we need to resolve this problem quickly,” said the City boss.
“We played too deep and this invited problems. Madrid were better than us in the first half but we improved a lot after the break. We are disappointed because we were 2-1 up with five minutes to go and if you find yourself in this situation away to Real Madrid, you should pay more attention and go on and win.
“Teams can lose here, that is not a surprise but we have lost from a good position – that is the disappointment, but I was happy with our performance in the second half.”
Mancini refused to blame the fact this is only City’s second Champions League campaign, adding: “We can’t continue to talk about experience because we have good players who are used to playing in big games like this.
“Other teams will lose here, too, but now we have five games left and it is important that we beat Borussia Dortmund in our next game. That won’t be easy because they are another top team.
“It will be difficult and we know ever match will be hard, but we should go through to the group stages this year.”
Joe Hart, who made several stunning saves during the game, said: “It’s not on. You can’t go 2-1 up and lose the game. We can only blame ourselves.
“They are a very good team and so are we. We dug deep, got a lead twice and threw it away. It’s hard to come off the field after losing 3-2 and be positive.”
