Pep Guardiola praised Ederson as Manchester City’s standout player while defending the goalkeeper’s decision before Real Madrid’s second goal.

Ederson made several crucial saves to deny Real Madrid during the match but was eventually beaten by a miskicked shot from Kylian Mbappe that looped awkwardly into the net. City responded and regained the lead thanks to an Erling Haaland penalty, but Real Madrid struck late after Ederson played a long ball, which came back quickly, and he could only parry it into the path of Brahim Diaz.

Six minutes later, Vinicius capitalized on a loose ball from Mateo Kovacic, beating Rico Lewis to it, and then poked the ball past Ederson, allowing Jude Bellingham to tap it into an empty net. What seemed like an encouraging evening for the Blues ended on a disappointing note, with Guardiola candidly acknowledging a performance that was marred by mistakes.

Despite his frustration with certain decisions, Guardiola stood by Ederson when asked about his choice before Brahim’s goal. He reiterated that Ederson had been City’s best player and pointed out that a different decision might have resulted in the same outcome.

“Eddy chose to play a long ball, but it wasn’t a good kick and they scored,” Guardiola explained. “Perhaps if we had played short and they scored, you’d say, ‘play long.’ Players make decisions in the moment – sometimes it works, sometimes it doesn’t, but it’s not new. It’s happened before. You reflect, learn, and move forward, being brave for the next matches.”

Guardiola continued, “In previous games, we needed a big win but didn’t get it. Today was tighter. Madrid created chances and played well with the ball, which didn’t happen in the past. In key moments, we couldn’t control the situation, but we reached the final minutes with a good result, and we couldn’t hold on to it.”