On Saturday night, Pep Guardiola had his long standing desire to win the UEFA Champions League with another club other than Barcelona come to naught, as they were bettered by Chelsea.

Chelsea flop, Kai Harvetz scored the only goal of the match when he latched onto a through ball from Mason Mount, rounded the on-rushing Ederson before putting the ball into the empty net before halftime.

Pep consoles his captain.

It was game over then, as Manchester City failed to pounce back in the second half despite recording high ball possession, as they always do.

Some pinned the blame on City boss, Guardiola, whose side were considered favourites before the game.

Many faulted his decision to go with a midfield of Gundogan, De Bruyne and Bernardo, all of which are attack minded players, with no natural holding abilities.

In attack, the two time Champions League winner opted for a striker-less front three, with Mahrez, Foden and Sterling spearheading the atack, leaving Club legend and City’s all time highest goalscorer, Sergio Aguero on the bench.

Aguero was hoping to sign off on the high, but it wasn’t to be.

Pep, who last won the Champions League in 2013 against Manchester United, said after the game that his team did well, despite the loss.

“I did the best in the selection. Against Lyon like it was against PSG, Dortmund, I tried the selection the best to win the game. The players know it, I think Gundogan played good, we were exceptional.”

He talked also of trying again next season.

Midfield maestro, De Bruyne couldn’t hold back his tears after he went off injured.

“It was an exceptional season for us, it was a dream being here, unfortunately we couldn’t win. It was the first time for a lot of us in this club. We tried, we couldn’t do it and we will work to come back again.”

“I am not clever enough to think about next season. It was a season with 62 games and we played 61. It was really tough for us all in the pandemic world and everything. If today we analyse the game of course we are sad, congratulations to Chelsea.”