City leave Pellegrini bitter, Barça satisfy Enrique
Tuesday, February 24, 2015
Article summary
Manuel Pellegrini described himself as "bitter" at Manchester City FC's first-half display which let FC Barcelona establish a first-leg lead, leaving Luis Enrique "very satisfied".
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Article body
• Manuel Pellegrini "bitter" after Manchester City's first-half display
• Chilean believes side had enough chances to earn draw
• Barcelona's Luis Enrique "very satisfied" with performance and 2-1 result
• Coach defends Lionel Messi after top scorer's late penalty miss
• The quarter-final draw takes place in Nyon at 12.00CET on Friday 20 March
Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City manager
We feel a bitter sensation because we did not play well in the first half. We improved a lot in the second half and we created chances, but we made errors. I think the first goal was down to an error of ours and that gave Barcelona the advantage. We corrected our mistakes in the second half and we had chances to equalise, but then when you are down to ten men it is always tough. The team now need to show the right amount of character to go to Barcelona in search of victory.
We played two games: the first half and the second half. Until the first goal it was a very normal game and after that we conceded a very easy goal and after that we played very bad until the first 45 minutes finished. In the second half I think we did what we talked about before the game. We played well. It is not the best result at all but we are going to play in Barcelona and we are going to try to do it at least in the way we normally play. If we perform as a team then we have a chance.
[Joe Hart's penalty save] was a very important save because, firstly, it was a very unnecessary penalty and we must control our emotion inside the box. Of course, that gives us more chance to try to win there in Barcelona, because 3-1 is a very difficult score to try to reverse. We can have more chance after saving that penalty.
Luis Enrique, Barcelona coach
This was a very good display from our team, we were much better than our opponents. We played a very complete game and we should be very satisfied with that. The aim was always to win the game, we did not care too much about the precise result. We have to bear in mind the quality of our opponents and how difficult this tie is. I was impressed with everyone and I congratulate my players for the result and their attitude. Players who take penalties will always miss some, but we have full confidence in [Lionel] Messi.