Man City ‘did absolutely everything’ to beat Boro – Guardiola

The Citizen’s manager has dismissed the notion of his side suffering a Barcelona hangover after being held by Boro at home

Pep Guardiola was satisfied that Manchester City “did absolutely everything” necessary to beat Middlesbrough, despite their profligacy being punished by a 1-1 draw.

Sergio Aguero’s 150th City goal looked set to be enough for the hosts, who defeated Barcelona 3-1 on Tuesday, but Marten de Roon’s stunning stoppage-time equaliser earned a point for Aitor Karanka’s side.

City rained 25 shots on the goal of Victor Valdes, who performed superbly to keep Boro in the game before De Roon struck.

“We did absolutely everything to win the game, controlled the game and in the last minute we concede a goal,” said Guardiola.

“It is a pity. We did a lot of good things and tried to win the game.

“When you miss you have to accept that, but the league is still long.

“It is a miss because we have dropped six points in the last three home games, but we are still there. We have to move forward.”

City produced a stunning display of counter-attacking football to beat Barca in the Champions League and Guardiola did not think those exertions had taken it out of his side come the weekend.

“Not really, we started amazing and played really good in the first half,” added the Spaniard.

“We have to close the game with second or third goal and we couldn’t do that. We created six or seven chances and didn’t score.”