Pep Guardiola stood by his decision to shake up Manchester City's tactics in their Champions League quarter-final against Lyon after his team suffered a shock 3-1 defeat by the unfancied French outfit.
Guardiola strayed from the 4-3-3 formation with which City had outclassed 13-times winners Real Madrid in the last 16, instead fielding a back-three including vastly inexperienced Erik Garcia, 19, as the central defender.
"In this competition the tactics are not the most important thing," Guardiola told a news conference.
"They (Lyon) are so fast and our central defenders are not so quick so I didn't want to leave them two versus two.
"We worked for three days on this, we discussed it and we reviewed this and when you play like we did in the last 20 minutes it shows the system is not the problem."
Garcia was badly caught out of position for Lyon's second goal, while the defence also slipped up for the opening strike from Maxwel Cornet, who was allowed a free strike from outside the area.
"I don't know why it didn't work but I know why we played this way," added the Catalan.
"We struggled in the first 25 minutes but in the second half we felt free, we were there and I had the feeling we were better than them but you have to be perfect in this competition and we were not."
City fell behind to Cornet's strike in a sloppy first half and although they looked like their usual selves after the break and levelled through Kevin de Bruyne, they were stunned by two strikes from Moussa Dembele, sandwiched between an unbelievable open-goal miss from Raheem Sterling.
"It is what it is and hopefully one day we'll break this gap in this competition," added Guardiola, who has led City to two Premier League titles in four seasons but never gone beyond the quarter-final stage in the Champions League.
"We created more chances, had more shots, we did everything but unfortunately we are out again."
Guardiola did not complain about Lyon's second goal, which survived a VAR review after a potential foul by Dembele on City defender Aymeric Laporte.
"I don't know, I don't want to talk about those circumstances because sometimes it seems like I'm complaining or looking for excuses. We are out, I had the feeling we were incredible already, but we made mistakes in the boxes in the key moments."
He also rued Sterling's astonishing miss which would have made it 2-2 and was promptly punished by Dembele's second goal which was the killer blow.
"That moment sums up this competition, we had to equalise and after we conceded the third goal," he said.
"That's this competition, you have to be perfect."
Results
Stage 7:
1. Caleb Ewan (AUS) Lotto Soudal - 3:18:29
2. Sam Bennett (IRL) Deceuninck-QuickStep - same time
3. Phil Bauhaus (GER) Bahrain Victorious
4. Michael Morkov (DEN) Deceuninck-QuickStep
5. Cees Bol (NED) Team DSM
General Classification:
1. Tadej Pogacar (SLO) UAE Team Emirates - 24:00:28
2. Adam Yates (GBR) Ineos Grenadiers - 0:00:35
3. Joao Almeida (POR) Deceuninck-QuickStep - 0:01:02
4. Chris Harper (AUS) Jumbo-Visma - 0:01:42
5. Neilson Powless (USA) EF Education-Nippo - 0:01:45
Labour dispute
The insured employee may still file an ILOE claim even if a labour dispute is ongoing post termination, but the insurer may suspend or reject payment, until the courts resolve the dispute, especially if the reason for termination is contested. The outcome of the labour court proceedings can directly affect eligibility.
- Abdullah Ishnaneh, Partner, BSA Law
ESSENTIALS
The flights
Emirates flies from Dubai to Phnom Penh via Yangon from Dh2,700 return including taxes. Cambodia Bayon Airlines and Cambodia Angkor Air offer return flights from Phnom Penh to Siem Reap from Dh250 return including taxes. The flight takes about 45 minutes.
The hotels
Rooms at the Raffles Le Royal in Phnom Penh cost from $225 (Dh826) per night including taxes. Rooms at the Grand Hotel d'Angkor cost from $261 (Dh960) per night including taxes.
The tours
A cyclo architecture tour of Phnom Penh costs from $20 (Dh75) per person for about three hours, with Khmer Architecture Tours. Tailor-made tours of all of Cambodia, or sites like Angkor alone, can be arranged by About Asia Travel. Emirates Holidays also offers packages.
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Test
Director: S Sashikanth
Cast: Nayanthara, Siddharth, Meera Jasmine, R Madhavan
Star rating: 2/5
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Company name: baraka
Started: July 2020
Founders: Feras Jalbout and Kunal Taneja
Based: Dubai and Bahrain
Sector: FinTech
Initial investment: $150,000
Current staff: 12
Stage: Pre-seed capital raising of $1 million
Investors: Class 5 Global, FJ Labs, IMO Ventures, The Community Fund, VentureSouq, Fox Ventures, Dr Abdulla Elyas (private investment)
2025 Fifa Club World Cup groups
Group A: Palmeiras, Porto, Al Ahly, Inter Miami.
Group B: Paris Saint-Germain, Atletico Madrid, Botafogo, Seattle.
Group C: Bayern Munich, Auckland City, Boca Juniors, Benfica.
Group D: Flamengo, ES Tunis, Chelsea, Leon.
Group E: River Plate, Urawa, Monterrey, Inter Milan.
Group F: Fluminense, Borussia Dortmund, Ulsan, Mamelodi Sundowns.
Group G: Manchester City, Wydad, Al Ain, Juventus.
Group H: Real Madrid, Al Hilal, Pachuca, Salzburg.
UAE%20PREMIERSHIP
%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3EFinal%3A%3C%2Fstrong%3E%20Dubai%20Hurricanes%20v%20Jebel%20Ali%20Dragons%0D%3Cbr%3E%0DSaturday%2C%208.15pm%2C%20Al%20Ain%20Amblers%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ESemi-final%20results%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3EDubai%20Exiles%2020-26%20Dubai%20Hurricanes%0D%3Cbr%3EDubai%20Tigers%2032-43%20Jebel%20Ali%20Dragons%0D%3C%2Fp%3E%0A%3Cp%3E%3Cstrong%3ETable%3C%2Fstrong%3E%0D%3Cbr%3E1%20Dubai%20Tigers%2C%2033%20points%0D%3Cbr%3E2%20Dubai%20Exiles%2C%2024%20points%0D%3Cbr%3E3%20Dubai%20Hurricanes%2C%2018%20points%0D%3Cbr%3E4%20Jebel%20Ali%20Dragons%2C%2014%20points%0D%3Cbr%3E5%20Abu%20Dhabi%20Harlequins%2C%2014%20points%3C%2Fp%3E%0A
What are the influencer academy modules?
- Mastery of audio-visual content creation.
- Cinematography, shots and movement.
- All aspects of post-production.
- Emerging technologies and VFX with AI and CGI.
- Understanding of marketing objectives and audience engagement.
- Tourism industry knowledge.
- Professional ethics.
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Crime%20Wave
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PLAY-OFF%20DRAW
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