Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has revealed his relief at Manchester City’s unbeaten start to the season coming to a close following their loss at Shakhtar Donetsk on Wednesday night.
City were beaten 2-1 in their final Champions League Group F encounter to end a 28-game undefeated streak, which dated back to an extra-time defeat by Arsenal in last season’s FA Cup semi-final.
Guardiola’s side have received plaudits for their emphatic domestic and European start to the campaign but the Spaniard believes the blip in Ukraine will sharpen their focus.
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City’s first defeat for the season will be ‘good for the club’
‘It hurts,’ said Guardiola after the match. ‘It’s never nice to lose.
‘But we needed to lose a game. It will be good for the club, for all of us. People say things when you win a lot and you can forget that now.
‘We came here when our job was done. We tried. People cannot say we didn’t come to try to win the game.
‘Now we are going to see on Sunday. Football is about how you recover in good and bad moments and try to stay stable.
‘We have said many times we cannot win all the time, we are going to lose games. Today was the first. Now we have to recover. It’s another competition, the Premier League.
‘But the world is not going to finish on Sunday. It doesn’t matter what is going to happen.’
Only Everton and Wolves, who eventually lost on penalties, have stopped City winning inside 90 minutes this season but Shakhtar surged ahead with first-half goals from Bernardo and Ismaily in Ukraine.
Bernard (centre right) scored as Shakhtar Donetsk beat City 2-1 in the Champions League
Guardiola made seven changes to his line-up with one eye firmly on Sunday’s Manchester derby, with England under-17 World Cup winner Phil Foden handed his first City start in an unfamiliar left-sided role.
Sergio Aguero was sent on with just over 20 minutes left and scored from the spot in stoppage time but Shakhtar held on for victory and qualification for the knockout stages.
Speaking to BT Sport/ESPN, Guardiola was quick to praise his opponents on a job well done: ‘Congratulations to Shakhtar,’ he said. ‘They played a good game but we did too.
‘We started really well. We fought, I’m so pleased for Tosin (Adarabioyo), Brahim (Diaz) and Phil, how good they played in the Champions League against a real good team like Shakhtar Donetsk.
‘We came here to win but we could not. I’m pleased with the performance.’
Guardiola (right) congratulates Shakhtar boss Paulo Fonseca after they beat his City side