Amongst the acrimony and the accusations on Wednesday evening, Pep Guardiola and Manchester City did make it through to the semi-final of the Champions League.
It was far from vintage Guardiola football as we have come to know it, but it was effective. Taking a 1-0 lead to Madrid, their defensive solidity and game smarts were enough to get them past Diego Simeone’s side.
Despite the grievances being loudly aired by both sides after the match, Simeone did then say that Manchester City deserved to go through.
With their progress, Pep Guardiola reaches his ninth Champions League semi-final, more than any other manager. In each of his four seasons with Barcelona he got to the final four, as was the case in his three years at Bayern Munich. Since, he has got there twice with Manchester City.
Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti had joined him on eight after defeating Chelsea on Wednesday – those two will contest a place in the final. The only other manager to have reached eight semi-finals is Roma‘s Jose Mourinho, as noted by Mundo Deportivo.
