I like the challenge ahead of me

Pep Guardiola says he enjoys the challenge of change Manchester city‘s fortunes turned around after they had suffered their third straight defeat in all competitions, a 4–1 thrashing against Sporting in the UEFA Champions League.

Phil Foden put City ahead after four minutes, but Viktor Gyokeres leveled late in the first half before Sporting added three more goals from Maximiliano Araujo and Gyokeres to complete his hat-trick.

It is the first time since April 2018 that Man City have lost three games in a row, following their defeats against Tottenham Hotspur in the EFL Cup, AFC Bournemouth in the Premier League and now Sporting.

To add to their misery, striker Erling Haaland shot a penalty against the crossbar in the second half incoming Manchester United head coach Ruben Amorim‘s Sporting side moved above City in the Champions League table.

“This is the difficult moment in terms of results, but I want to be here,” Guardiola told TNT Sports then.

“I want to fight and not give up. I like this challenge as a manager that I have in front of me. Whoever wants to follow us will be there.”

“It’s football. Maybe what we lived in the past is an exception. Sometimes you can lose. We were in a position where they punished us for the little they did, and we fought for the chances we had.

“The first half was almost enough to finish the game and then we lost 3-1.”

This defeat was City’s heaviest since Leicester City won 5-2 at the Etihad Stadium in September 2020, marking only the second time they have been defeated in three consecutive games in a single season under Guardiola.

“It’s disappointing because we’re a bit in the dark at the moment and everything seems to be going in the wrong direction,” the midfielder said. Bernardo Silva told TNT Sports. “Even when we play well, we don’t score our chances and we concede too easily.

“We definitely have to look inward and see what we are doing wrong and get better very quickly. Otherwise it will be difficult to come back from these losses.”

Guardiola echoed Bernardo’s assessment of his side’s struggles.

“Now we are struggling to score,” the manager added. “We create and concede when the opponents don’t do much. The first half was really good. We scored a goal, but with every pass we sometimes missed the simple things.

“It can happen. After the third and fourth we should avoid it. Emotionally we were not stable enough and in this competition you have to be stable. At 2-1 a lot of things can happen.”

Guardiola, who handed teenage defender Jahmai Simpson-Pusey a full debut on Tuesday evening, returns to Premier League action on Saturday when Man City make a trip to Brighton & Hove Albion.