“Deservedly beaten” - Man City match reaction

We gathered the thoughts from the players and coaches after Borussia’s 2-0 defeat to Manchester City saw them knocked out of the UEFA Champions League on Tuesday night.

Yann Sommer: Manchester City were clearly the better team in both legs and we were deservedly beaten. If you want to cause a side like them problems, you need to play at a very high level, and we’re simply not doing that at the moment. We still had two or three decent opportunities, but unfortunately we didn’t take them. Sides like City don’t give you a lot of room to work with and when you find some, you have to make the most of it. We failed to do that across the two legs. We’re in a difficult period at the moment. We worked hard to be in the last 16 and we wanted something to show for it. We’re thoroughly disappointed right now, but I truly believe that we’ve achieved something incredible in the Champions League this season. Now it’s about looking ahead.

Lars Stindl: We went into the game full of intent and made a good start. Unfortunately, their first shot flies into the top corner, and then they add a second soon after – that made the task all the more difficult. We tried to get something going and had two or three half-chances, but it’s incredibly difficult against City because you only have a short window of opportunity where you can play a ball in behind. If you spend just a little too long on the ball, then their pressing kills any chance you had. That’s why we got into dangerous areas so rarely. We chased down the ball intensively, but City managed to work their way through the press with good football. The task was just too great for us over the 180 minutes.

Marco Rose: We obviously had other hopes for both games, but you just have to accept that Manchester City in the form they’re in are just too strong an opponent, and one that any side would have difficulties against. Their first shot went in and their second goal wasn’t far behind. The lads reacted well though; they put up some good resistance and showed that we can make life tough for an opponent of that quality. You’re bound to lose belief at some point though. We had some promising moments on the ball and produced more shots than in the first leg, but all in all, it wasn’t good enough. 

Man City head coach Pep Guardiola: We controlled the game both on and off the ball, but we could have scored a few more goals perhaps. Nevertheless, we got into our opponents’ box more in the second leg, even though we missed a number of opportunities, but that can happen. We were very aggressive, we kept it simple and our movement off the ball was perfect. I’m very happy with our performance – credit to the boys. We’re into the next round and that’s the most important thing.