Pep Guardiola Laments Meaningless Passes After Basel Defeat
Despite their safe progression to the quarter-finals of the Champions League, Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was not happy with the manner of their 2-1 home defeat at the hands of Basel in the second leg.
Basel dealt City just their fourth defeat of the season and their second in the Champions League. While clearly not at their best, Guardiola lamented his side making too many meaningless passes during the match.
City broke a new record for most passes completed by a team in this year's edition of the Champions League. Basel, who made just a quarter of the passes their opponents did, still managed a slender victory over the English champions-elect.
Guardiola fielded a heavily-rotated starting eleven for this game and handed starts to the likes of 17-year-old Phil Foden, who became the youngest Englishman to play a Champions League knockout game.
But it was how City lost which has frustrated Guardiola, who will not be all too pleased with his side's new passing record.
He said (via Marca): "From tomorrow we'll be happy to have qualified, but in the second half we forgot to attack and forgot to play, to pass the ball.
"Just passing the ball without any movement, to just pass and pass for the sake of it is nothing. We just passed for the sake of passing. That's not football."
City have now reached the quarter-finals of the competition for the just the second time. The first time came in the 2015/16 season where they reached the semi-finals. This defeat against Basel also continues a unwanted streak as City have never won the second leg of a last-16 Champions League tie.
