Pellegrini and Blanc rue defensive errors
Wednesday, April 6, 2016
Article summary
There was no question who was the happier of the two coaches after Manchester City's 2-2 draw in Paris, Manuel Pellegrini labelling it "a good result" despite defensive mistakes.
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Article body
- Fernandinho's equaliser 18 minutes from time earns City 2-2 quarter-final draw
- Zlatan Ibrahimović has penalty saved before scoring for fifth successive European game
- Paris coach Laurent Blanc says it is "not a good result" for his side
- David Luiz and Blaise Matuidi to miss return after yellow cards
- Second leg at City of Manchester Stadium on 12 April
Laurent Blanc, Paris coach
It's not a good result. I don't know if it has to do with nervousness but we made a lot of technical mistakes, especially for City's second goal – and we all know the importance of away goals. Looking at the stats, we played the match we wanted to, but we made mistakes, in part due to City's quality.
Zlatan [Ibrahimović] went through a bit of everything tonight. He missed a penalty, then had a huge chance ... and just when you thought it wasn't his night, he scores! It's not the first time we concede goals at home – quite the opposite – but we proved we can score away too. So if we manage to give the same performance, without committing the same mistakes, we can go through.
Tonight's two absentees [Marco Verratti and Javier Pastore] will not be available for the return leg. We dominated yet conceded two goals, and on top of that we'll have two players suspended for the return leg – David Luiz and Blaise Matuidi. But I think it's possible. It'll be complicated, but it's possible.
Manuel Pellegrini, Manchester City manager
This quarter-final remains open. We still have 90 minutes ahead of us in Manchester but this is a good result. In the first half, if we want to win, we cannot make the kind of mistakes we did here. But we are trying to win the game from the first minute, it is the way we play.
It's never easy to leave here with a draw, against a very good team with very good players. We scored two away goals which is very important. And yet the tie remains open. Anything is possible for both teams.
There are 90 minutes left and we must give a good performance if we want to go through. Now it's Paris's turn to come and play at our ground. They are a team who know how to play and how to get good results. We will need to improve defensively, as we made some big mistakes.
