John Stones was “angry” and “frustrated” by the end of Manchester City’s collapse during a 3-2 defeat by Real Madrid in his direct elimination match of the Champions League.
Real won the victory through two late goals from Brahim Diaz and Jude Bellingham after Erling Haaland has put City in advance since the 80th minute.
City led the first in Haaland match after 10 minutes before Kylian Mbappe led the match in the second half before the dramatic final of the Etihad.
This continues the unusual difficulties of the Pep Guardiola team this season, with the fifth place team of the Premier League who was heading for Bernabeu next week needing to overthrow a goal deficit in order to reach 16 last.
Stones told Amazon Prime: “A few games after the arsenal [5-1 defeat]I don’t know how to put it right away, it’s so raw and frustrating for everyone.
“We were in the match until late, then these are two situations that occur and we concede. It is frustrating as a defender to leave with this result.
“It is a feeling of anger and frustration.”
It happened again!
Man City Agony at Etihad as head of Real Madrid! 😳#Uclonprime pic.twitter.com/vll8j9wuz6
– Amazon Prime Video Sport (@primevideosport) February 11, 2025
Their late defeat was the ninth time that City has failed to win after leading in the match, which is as many times as in their previous four seasons.
The defender of England added: “We must better see the games. The manager said that we must take responsibility for what we do on the field, I think we do it. We must intensify when these bad times occur.
“Today, we had an excellent opportunity to go to the Bernabeu with a 2-1 advance. It is not done. We have to remain positive, which is difficult now. As the director says, we have to look at and assume responsibility. »»
“We were in mind at the start of the game and we know that real has a quality to be released in the second half. It is avoidable as eleven on the ground. We have to do better – it’s as simple as that.
“We have to keep a positive mentality and try to say them correctly.”
Bellingham: We played some of our best footballs of the season
Bellingham, winner of the match, felt real deserves the victory after an impressive start for the match despite his delay and said his late goal could be crucial before the return leg.
He said, “It was weird. We played some of our best football of the season and we found ourselves behind.
“I think we were playing well and that we are creating a lot. We were always confident throughout the game that something would fall for us.
“I don’t care about the form of the city, it’s always an incredible team. It is always difficult to play against them and we finally took the chance at the end.
“It is always good to take a lead at home and I am sure that the Bernabeu will come for us.
It seems that there are top to bottom in these direct elimination games. It is not only the management of the game, it is tactical and it is also physiological. “”
