Manchester City have made it to the Champions League semi-final for the first time since Pep Guardiola arrived at the Etihad in 2016.
The Citizens failed to get past the last eight of the competition as they were knocked out by Liverpool, Tottenham Hotspur and Lyon in the last three seasons.
City suffered a 3-1 defeat at the hands of the Ligue 1 side in August 2020. Kevin De Bruyne cancelled Maxwel Cornet’s first half strike in the 68th minute before Moussa Dembélé came off the bench to score a brace.
Pep Guardiola’s side had a chance to equalise a minute before Dembélé netted his second goal of the match in the 87th minute.
Raheem Sterling had an open goal in front of him, but the England international missed the target. His big miss not only stopped Manchester City from equalising, but also allowed Lyon to score another goal a minute later.
Guardiola’s former assistant Domènec Torrent has defended the City manager’s tactics against Lyon, and suggested the blame should go to Sterling.
“It was bad luck. Raheem Sterling did not hit the empty goal from a few metres. Is that supposed to be the fault of the coach? No. Pep also makes mistakes,” Torrent told Spox.
“Still, he’s a genius. And its human nature to like to see geniuses fail. It was the same with musicians like Mozart. People have enjoyed criticising him when he made a mistake for making mistakes so rarely. It’s similar with Pep.
“But I know him well and know that he can handle the criticism. And even if he were denied this third Champions League title: in 20 years, when he sits at home with his family and looks back on his career over a glass of wine, he will be happy and satisfied.
“Still, I hope he wins this title. He deserves it. No genius should go unrewarded.”
