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Rob DawsonCorrespondent
Pep Guardiola said he was left emotionally destroyed after Manchester City‘s dominant Champions League victory over Bayern Munich.
City are on the verge of a third successive semifinal after goals from Rodri, Bernardo Silva and Erling Haaland handed the Bundesliga side their biggest Champions League defeat for nearly six years.
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Guardiola claimed the frantic game at the Etihad Stadium had aged him 10 years but hailed the result as “incredible.”
“Emotionally I’m destroyed,” Guardiola told a post-match news conference.
“I have [aged] 10 more years today. It was such a demanding game. Now I have to relax, a day off for the guys, prepare for Leicester [on Saturday].
“I know exactly what you have to do there [in Munich]. If you don’t perform really well they are able to score one, two, three. I know that. The players know that. It’s an incredible result, but we have to do our game with huge, huge personality.”
After Rodri had put City ahead with a stunning strike from outside the penalty area, City took advantage of a Dayot Upamecano mistake to make it 2-0 when the French defender was robbed by Jack Grealish and Haaland crossed for Silva to head in.
Haaland made it 3-0 with his 45th goal of a record-breaking season and although it made for an emphatic result, Bayern boss Thomas Tuchel said afterwards he did not believe it was deserved.
“I won’t allow the players to focus on the result,” said Tuchel.
“It’s not deserved and it does not tell the story of this match. That will be the challenge, to focus on things we did good. We played with personality, courage, the right attitude and with a lot of quality.
“Everybody is disappointed and we have very mixed feelings. I told the players and they felt this does not feel like 3-0 but it is 3-0 and it’s a huge, huge task to turn it around.
“We will not give up and a home match in Germany is a home match in Germany and it will not be over until we’re in the shower.”