Defeat in the Champions League
Pep Guardiola: “I failed”
November 26, 2025 – 7:33 a.mReading time: 1 min.
Man City went into the game against Leverkusen as favorites. 90 minutes later, the English had one more defeat. Pep Guardiola took responsibility for this.
After the 2-0 defeat against Leverkusen in the Champions League, Pep Guardiola was self-critical. The Manchester City coach spoke openly about the consequences of his extensive rotation.
“I have a lot of trust in the players and want to involve everyone. But yes, this is a lesson for me as a manager,” said Guardiola after the game. “I did this for the first time in my life and it was too much. It was my instinct – but I failed.”
Against Bayer Leverkusen, the coach changed his starting eleven to ten positions compared to the league game at Newcastle (1:2). Goal scorer Erling Haaland also initially stayed out. Stars like Haaland, Jérémy Doku and Phil Foden were only substituted on in the second half – but they could no longer avert the defeat.
Guardiola faced the critical questions after his 100th Champions League game as City coach. Was the measure correct? “Before yes, after no,” said the 52-year-old. “I would like to swap all eleven, but I don’t have eleven substitutes. We have to do that, there are a lot of games and we need fresh legs.”
Despite the defeat, Manchester City is in a good position with ten points from five games. Direct qualification for the round of 16 is still possible. The next opponent in the premier class is Real Madrid on December 10th.