Pep Guardiola's Champions League trauma lives on! Man City did everything right against Real Madrid, but fell to familiar curse of agonising European exits

Guardiola was at pains to point out that his side had dominated the game, but he didn't need to. It was laid bare in the match statistics. City had 33 shots to Madrid's eight, with nine on target to their opponents' three. Madrid blocked a total of 12 shots from City, who only blocked one from their visitors. They typically monopolised possession with 67 percent of the ball, while they had 18 corners to Madrid's one.

In terms of statistics, last year's rampant 4-0 win in the semi-final second leg was far more even than Wednesday's 1-1 draw, the shot count reading 16-7 on that night 11 months ago.

"We were outstanding in the way we played, and unfortunately, we couldn’t win," Guardiola said. "We should have scored before. Unfortunately, we couldn’t do it; they defended so deep in transitions. We controlled them. We created everything, but we couldn’t win."

City are used to dominating matches and their relentless attacks usually wear down opponents to the point that they eventually cave in as their legs give way. Just ask Manchester United, who spent most of last month's derby trying to defend an early lead at the Etihad Stadium, but were eventually blown away.

Madrid, though, are made of sterner stuff, and hanging in there is second nature to them, particularly in the Champions League. "We knew that we were going to suffer. We suffered," said Carlo Ancelotti. "It was a really difficult game, but to win here, you have to behave like we did. We had a great attitude. They had more control of the game; we started well. After that, they started to play and we had more difficulties, but we were able to keep going and stay concentrated at the back."

Guardiola is a coach that plans for every situation and agonises over the opposition's style and strengths, but one thing he could not legislate for was Madrid's capacity to stay alive when they were being constantly hemmed into their area.

Jude Bellingham described knocking out the holders as "incredible" and he knows first hand how unforgiving City are, having lost three out of four games against them with Borussia Dortmund, including a Champions League quarter-final tie in 2021.

“It’s relief. You put so much into the game. I’ve played against City before when you’re close and you think you’re going to get something and then they snatch it away,” Bellingham told TNT Sports. "It’s so difficult to keep focus, they move you around and put you in positions you don’t want to be in. Most teams would fall apart when City get on top, but we stood up really well and worked hard. I’m dead on my feet at the end of the game, so it’s a massive reward."

Bellingham also talked about how Ancelotti encourages him and his team-mates to express themselves, contrasting Madrid's liberal approach with City's meticulous way of playing.

“Our biggest strength is [Ancelotti] finds a way to let the boys play with freedom," he added. "Other teams are structured with their patterns of play, but we’re so off the cuff at times. I caught him yawning before the game and he said ‘you need to go and excite me’! That’s the calmness he brings.”

Madrid's improvisation has certainly served them well over the years. They have made it to the Champions League semi-finals for the 12th occasion in 14 years. City have made it to the same stage only three times in eight years under Guardiola. They finally got over the line and won their first Champions League last year in Istanbul, but that was actually an anomaly for the club and Guardiola.

Even though he has won the Champions League three times as a manager - only Ancelotti has won it on more occasions - Guardiola has experienced untold suffering in the competition. The Catalan led Barca to win the trophy in his very first season as a senior coach in 2008-09 and held the iconic prize aloft at Wembley again in 2011. But there have been so many tragedies.

Guardiola has reached the knockout stage in all 15 of his appearances in the Champions League. His sides have been knocked out on away goals on three occasions, plus once each in extra-time or penalties. Every circumstance seemed to go against his Barca side when they were eliminated by Jose Mourinho's Inter in 2010, while the 2012 exit to 10-man Chelsea was almost as excruciating, with Lionel Messi firing a penalty against the post.

His Bayern sides were well beaten by Madrid in 2014 and Barca in 2015, but their exit to Atletico Madrid was chastening, having 33 shots on goal, 11 on target and Thomas Muller missing a penalty as they lost on away goals. More away goal defeats followed with City against Monaco and Tottenham, when VAR ruled out Raheem Sterling's last-gasp goal but greenlit Fernando Llorente's controversial effort when he used an arm as he bundled the ball in.

Guardiola only had himself to blame for his mad tactics in 2020 against Lyon and in the 2021 final against Chelsea, but his side were desperately unlucky to succumb to Madrid in the semi-finals in 2022, sunk by Rodrygo's two goals in less than two minutes.

The coach ended an 11-year wait to get his hands on the trophy again when they overcame Inter in Istanbul, having outclassed Bayern and Madrid on the way. He then seemed destined to equal Ancelotti's record of four Champions League gongs this season after winning every group-stage game and steamrolling Copenhagen in the last 16.

But the draw put him on another collision course with Madrid, and after the 14-times winners did what they do best and reached the semi-finals, Ancelotti could yet move on to five triumphs. Guardiola, for now, remains stuck on three, as many as Zinedine Zidane won in only five attempts.

Guardiola knows that his record in the Champions League will always be scrutinised, and last year he sought to explain it by bringing up Michael Jordan and Jack Nicklaus. "How many Masters has Jack Nicklaus played or majors has he played in his career? In 30 or 40 years as a golfer, all four majors? How many wins out of 130? Eighteen wins out of 130. Wow," he said.

"He loses more than he wins. That is sport. In football, in golf, in basketball. Michael Jordan, the best athlete for me in basketball, won six NBA titles out of 16 years. He loses more than he wins."

There is no doubting Guardiola's status as one of the greatest coaches, if not the greatest, of all-time. Yet given how dominant he has been in domestic competitions, winning 11 out of 14 national league titles in Spain, England and Germany, three Champions Leagues feels like too few.

"To be honest, I saw only one team," said Rodri after the shootout defeat. "They knew how to suffer and we know how tough Real Madrid are. But in my opinion we should go through with that amount of chances, but this is the trick of this competition. They know how to play it. We congratulate them."

Madrid sure do now how to play this competition, summed up by the fact that between 2016 and 2018, they won it as many times as Guardiola has throughout his career. He has dominated his sport like Nicklaus and Jordan, yet he has not mastered its greatest competition. That remains Madrid's domain. Perhaps Guardiola should be scared of them after all.