Liverpool mission

City has to shrug off the memory of blowing a two-goal lead to raise itself for a Champions League rescue mission against Liverpool on Tuesday.

"Congratulations to United. Now we will try, if we are brave enough, to stand up again and focus on Tuesday," said Guardiola.

The manager also said the way his side is built to play on the front foot could leave it exposed to an away goal that would almost certainly seal Liverpool's place in the last four.

"In today's match United didn't shoot one time in the first half. In the second half they arrived twice and scored two goals," he said.

In a recurring theme of his near two-year reign in charge of City, Guardiola also lamented his side's inability to take its chances at the other end as Raheem Sterling missed two glorious opportunities to extend City's lead with the score at 2-0.

AFP