Guardiola Impressed With Man City's European Maturity After Draw With Real Madrid

The quarterfinal first leg at the Santiago Bernabeu turned out to be a classic with some high quality goals on show.

City took an early lead through Bernardo Silva's clever free kick before a Ruben Dias own goal and a Rodrygo effort turned the game in favour of the hosts.

Phil Foden and Josko Gvardiol handed the initiative back to the visitors with superb long range strikes before Federico Valverde's volley levelled matters.

Dissecting the result after the game, Guardiola said: “I think it was really good. Two teams that want to attack. The quality of the goals was fantastic.

“What I liked most is how we played in the second half. We were 2-1 down, playing here without much composure.

“They are so dangerous on transitions and could score more goals but we controlled the game really well.

“This game, in the first three seasons together, we’d have lost 4-1 or 5-1 as we were not stable emotionally.

“You need time to learn and now we are more stable and hopefully in the future we can do better and better.

“We went 2-3 but here it is never over. It’s Madrid, it’s special. We take the result and in one week in Manchester, with our people, it will be sold out and they will help us.”

The two teams meet next week for the second leg at the Etihad Stadium with a place in the semi-finals up for grabs.