Pep Guardiola insists Man City will attack Dortmuand not sit on aggregate lead

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praised his players for holding their nerve against Borussia Dortmund in their Champions League quarter-final first leg tie on Tuesday night, before insisting that his team will continue to attack in the second leg.

City will take a 2-1 aggregate lead to Germany next week after a late winner at the Etihad Stadium from Phil Foden. Marco Reus had equalised in the closing stages for Dortmund, cancelling out Kevin De Bruyne’s first half opener.

Guardiola was grateful that his players kept their heads after being pegged back with not a lot of time left on the clock and went on to get the winner.

“We were there and the reaction after 1-1 when you could become crazy, [but] we didn’t. We won the game,” Guardiola said, via ManCity.com.

“Second half was better. When you win 26 games in 27 and they are not winning the Bundesliga, the pressure is on our shoulders. Everybody believed we would win. We had an incredible commitment and desire to go through,” he added.

Despite City’s aggregate lead, Guardiola has no intention of asking his players to sit on the advantage in the second leg, scheduled for Wednesday 14 April at Dortmund’s Westfalenstadion.

“We will go there to win the game,” he said. “I ask the players to win the game. We did it and now we go to Dortmund not to defend. We will adjust our pressing, adjust our build up and play 90 minutes to try and reach the semi-final.”

Should City hold onto their advantage and progress to the semi-finals, for what would only the second time after making it to the last four once before in 2015/16, they would face the winner of the tie between holders Bayern Munich and 2020 runners-up Paris Saint-Germain.

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