Man City manager Pep Guardiola has pointed out the weakness in his side in Wednesday night's clash UEFA Champions League Round of 16 first leg clash with RB Leipzig. The Citizens were held to a disappointing 1-1 draw inside the Red Bull Arena despite taking the lead.
In the absence of Kevin de Bruyne and Aymeric Laporte, City paid a hefty price for their failure to make use of the influx of chances they managed in the first half of the affair. At the end of the 45 minutes, the Citizens had just a goal to show for, courtsey of Riyad Mahrez. The Algerian talisman found the back of the net inside the 27th minute after Ilkay Gundogan capitalized on a defensive mistake to set him up.
Nevertheless, Leipzig came out strong in the second half and were duly rewarded with less than 20 minutes of regulation time left. Die Roten Bullen got back into the tie after Josko Gvardiol nodded home a short corner from Marcel Halstenberg.
With the tie now set to be decided at the Etihad on March 14, Pep Guardiola has revealed that his men were just not up the task at some point. He said: "Some people expect us to come and win 4-0. I'm sorry, it's not that easy!"
"We don't have the team to compete with them in transitions; they're better than us, faster, quicker, except Kyle [Walker] and Erling [Haaland]," Pep added.
"The pace they have, we don't. That's why we have to have the game with control that we had first half..."
This weekend, City will return to action in the Premier League by traveling away to AFC Bournemouth. Pep and his charges will be hoping to keep the pressure on league leaders Arsenal after stuttering in their run following last weekend's disappointing draw versus Nottingham Forest.
