Saturday 7 April 2018 21:48, UK
Pep Guardiola admitted that he felt sorry for Manchester City's supporters after his side blew the opportunity to wrap up the Premier League title by losing 3-2 against Manchester United after being 2-0 up.
City dominated the first half and goals from Vincent Kompany and Ilkay Gundogan put them in charge at the interval.
However, United turned the game on its head after the break as Paul Pogba's double and Chris Smalling gave Jose Mourinho's side victory at the home of their arch-rivals.
Guardiola said: "We did absolutely everything. In the first half of the game was almost over, we created enough chances and had good situations but [the result] is ok. We're a little sad, of course, for our fans, our people, our players and especially to arrive in a good mood on Tuesday [Champions League quarter-final, second leg against Liverpool].
"Football is all about boxes, what happens in the box. When you are good in both boxes, you have a good chance to get results."
City had chances to extend their two-goal lead in the first half, with Raheem Sterling, in particular, guilty of two big misses.
However, the visitors gradually grew into the game and three goals in 16 minutes swung the game in their favour. Disappointingly for Guardiola and City, two of United's goals were from headers.
"They found their game and their actions. They have spirit, this is Manchester United! But we have done everything to win the game," Guardiola said.
"I don't think the players have lost focus. Our team is built to create and attack, that's why we made the decisions we did to go forward. We had a lot of quality and goals in the first half but you have to defend a little better from set-pieces. But that's football.
"We have no complaints about the players' intentions."
Guardiola opted to rotate his side with Tuesday's Champions League tie against Liverpool looming on Tuesday as Kevin De Bruyne, Kyle Walker and Sergio Aguero were all named on the bench.
He refused to blame team selection on the result, though, suggesting his side did more than enough to win the game, regardless of which players were on the field.
Guardiola said: "If you win the pick-up [selection] is nice, we played good in the first half and in the second half as well, sometimes you have to understand and see what happens in the game affects the result."
On whether any psychological damage will have been done by the result, Guardiola said: "We will see. Our heads are up, we will step forward and say 'ok guys we are here try and go and do it'."
