Guardiola: The future is bright for Man City despite Champions League exit

Pep Guardiola insists Manchester City have a bright future despite their difficult campaign continuing with a humbling Champions League loss to Real Madrid.

Man City lost 2-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday, rounding out a 5-1 aggregate defeat.

Bernardo Silva was sent off in the first half for deliberate handball, with Vinicius Junior’s double getting the job done for Los Blancos.

After winning the competition in 2022-23, City have gone past the round of 16 stage only once in three seasons since, reaching the quarter-finals in 2023-24.

They are nine points off the pace in the Premier League, while City will face Arsenal in the EFL Cup final on Sunday.

Guardiola’s future seems uncertain, with reports suggesting he will decide on whether he is staying at City in the coming weeks. However, he is sure that the club’s prospects are bright.

He told Amazon Prime: “It’s difficult once you are 4-0 down and playing 10 men against 11. But we did everything.

“We have an extraordinary team and an extraordinary group of players. The future is bright.

“It’s a little bit of a learning. But it should have been 11 against 11. But we never know. Maybe we lose 6-0 but it’s a fact.

“The feeling is that give me the chance to play 11 against 11.”

4 – Pep Guardiola has lost both legs of a UEFA Champions League knockout stage tie for the fourth time, with three of those coming against Real Madrid (2013-14, 2024-25 and 2025-26). Rarity. pic.twitter.com/si79FLAQau

— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) March 17, 2026

Guardiola has lost four of his last five Champions League meetings with Madrid (W1), after only losing three of his first 12 matches against them in the competition (W5 D4).

But his focus now turns to facing off against Arsenal with silverware on the line.

“On Monday [after the EFL Cup final] hopefully we will wake up and it is a sunny day,” said Guardiola.

“It is not crucial, it is a football game, we are going to try to win with a good performance.

“We will challenge against the best team in England so far, the best team in Europe because look at their results in the group phase, they were first and have lost three or four games all season.

“We will challenge them and we have to see how we are competing against them.”