Guardiola: "With Italian teams and their defences, it's never easy"

Man City find themselves in an alarming position following their latest 2-0 defeat to Juventus on Wednesday in the Champions League. The English champions are down in 22nd and risk not making it into the knockout phase as one point separates them from the elimination zone with two games remaining.
Nevertheless, Pep Guardiola believes that instead of fingers being pointed at City, more credit should go towards the Italian for their impressive defensive display at the Allianz Stadium. "Against Italian teams that defend so far back and so tightly, it's never easy," the Catalan told 'Movistar' post-match. "They [Juventus] are masters when it comes to these situations, but we still play how we usually do. The performance was there, we just missed out on the result".
Following last night's loss, City accumulated 7 defeats in their last 10 matches, but such fact does not shake off Guardiola's opinion that his team is performing well. "We played well, really well. We just needed the final pass, but we did not give away many chances," he said. Of course, sometimes these things happen, but I'm very proud of these players. I believe they gave it their all and tried their best. Hopefully, we can change and get better results".
Asked about what his team need to do to ensure access into the last 16, Guardiola said: "We need a point, maybe a win. We are in this situation because of the game against Feyenoord and, especially, Inter Milan, with whom we also played well. When we get past all this, we will not forget this period, we will appreciate more what we have done and what we will do in future. Right now, we have to keep going," he added. The Man City boss will have to wait until January to get back to European action.