Pep Guardiola offered congratulations to Atletico Madrid after his Bayern Munich side lost in the Champions League semi-final.
Atletico progressed on away goals after a 1-0 win at Vicente Calderon was followed by a 2-1 defeat at the Allianz Arena, and Guardiola said post-match he was ‘proud’ despite the result meaning he will leave Germany without a European trophy.
“I want to congratulate Atletico. I’m proud of my players, it was a good match for our fans, for all the fans. If you play well, you can be proud. Atletico is a very strong team…hopefully Carlo Ancelotti can [win the Champions League,” Guardiola said, AS reports, referencing his successor when he takes over semi-finalists Manchester City.
“This club has a very big future with this mentality. The worst defeat is when you go home and you think you haven’t been good. But that’s not the case. Atletico should be in the final, however.
“I’m happy, though disappointed for my players. Atletico deserve the final, they’ve played a fantastic Champions League. They’ve done a great job, we didn’t score in Madrid but here we could have had four or five.
“We didn’t lose the tie because Thomas Muller missed a penalty, no. We did almost everything right. In my first Champions League Andres Iniesta put the ball in the top corner. This time we had 30 shots and we went out. We’ve given everything. I hope now we win the Bundesliga.
“I’ve been happy here and the goal was to reach the Champions League Final. We’ve tried everything. It’s up to the Press to say how my team here was. I’ve done the job the best I could, given my life for this club. I’m proud, it’s an honour to work with these fantastic players.
“I’ll be judged for not winning the Champions League. Tomorrow? I want Manchester City to win [against Real Madrid in the other semi-final].”
