Pep Guardiola says he will never change his tactical philosophy despite his Manchester City side suffering a 4-0 defeat at former club Barcelona.
Lionel Messi scored a hat-trick against an exposed City defence and goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off for handling outside his box after a misplaced pass.
“There will be no change. Until the last day of my career as a coach I will try to play from our keeper,” he said.Barca lead Champions League Group C with nine points, five ahead of City.
City were already a goal down in the early stages of the second half when Bravo intercepted a through ball, but then gifted possession to Luis Suarez.
The Chilean goalkeeper, who was stranded outside his area, then deliberately handled the Uruguayan’s lob towards goal.
“Sometimes there are mistakes and sometimes you have to kick the ball out, but most of the time, when we play good, it starts from there,” added Guardiola.
“Of course he knows what he did, but he has a lot of experience and he’s one of best goalkeepers in last 10 years, so I don’t have doubts about him.”
City have not won any of their past four matches but are top of the Premier League and Guardiola won his first 10 games after he took charge in the summer.
The 45-year-old said his side needed more time to be capable of challenging at Barcelona’s level.“We lost the game 4-0, but we are a new club, we are getting to know each other,” he said. “We are a club that for 35 years was not in Europe.
“We came here and played with huge personality but it is always difficult to play Barcelona with 11. With 10 the game was over. Until then the game was open.”
Meanwhile, former Manchester United and Everton defender, Phil Neville said City were not of the same standard as their Spanish rivals.“City are nowhere near where Guardiola wants them to be,” Champions League winner Neville told BBC Radio 5 live.
“Barcelona are only at 80% of where they can be and this shows City are nowhere near them and will probably struggle to win the Champions League this year.”
This was the first time the Premier League leaders had conceded four times in the competition, which represented another miserable return to the Nou Camp for Guardiola.
The Catalan won 14 trophies during his four-year tenure as Barca boss, but he has now twice lost heavily to the Spaniards – the other occasion a 3-0 first-leg semi-final defeat with Bayern Munich in May 2015.
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