Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor believes that his side’s 1-1 draw against Real Madrid this evening was a fair result.
Caroline Weir fired The Cityzens into the lead early in the second half but Kenti Robles levelled matters at the death. Real Madrid forward Esther Gonzalez also missed a penalty for her side in the first half.
Manchester City started both halves well but they did come under some pressure from the hosts who were appearing in their first-ever UEFA Women’s Champions League tie. Speaking in the post-match press conference in which FAWSL Full-Time were present, Manchester City head coach Taylor admitted that the result was a fair reflection of the 90 minutes.
He said “I was a bit disappointed to lose the goal that late on but I think coming out here where we were in our pre-season and with the disruptions that we have had…..I thought we controlled the game in the first 20 minutes then we committed a few errors which allowed them back into the game slightly. Second half I thought we were good, I thought we improved a lot, tweaked a couple of positions with Vicky (Losada) and Laura Coombs.
“I’d probably have to say a draw was a fair result overall. If we had have come away with a 1-0 win we wouldn’t have kid ourselves, there is still work to do. There were some good parts to it, just a little disappointing that we conceded late on like that.”
When taking on an improving side in the European game like Real Madrid on their own turf, you need some luck with the officials, however, Taylor felt that his side were given few decisions over the course of the 90 minutes.
“I’ll be honest, I don’t think we got a lot out of the officials all night;” Taylor said. “I thought the penalty was very generous, what are you expecting players to do in that situation? They have to defend, they have to make blocks.
“They took a long time over it and I thought that there were a number of errors made by the officials that consistently went against us so that was disappointing.
“That’s part of the game, sometimes you get them, sometimes you don’t and we seemed to be up against it tonight in those instances.”
Manchester City will now turn their attentions to their opening game of the new Barclays FA Women’s Super League season against Everton at Goodison Park on Saturday.