Erling Haaland, the striker for Manchester City, described his team’s shocking defeat to the Norwegian side Bodø/Glimt in the Champions League as “embarrassing.” Manager Pep Guardiola acknowledged that “everything is going wrong” for the club.
In a stunning turn of events, City fell to a 3-1 defeat, which included star midfielder Rodri receiving a red card after two quick yellow cards.
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This unexpected defeat against the newcomers came just three days after City suffered a 2-0 loss to their fierce rivals, Manchester United, in the Premier League.
“I don’t have the answers. I take full responsibility for not scoring the goals I should have,” Haaland told TNT Sports. “I just want to apologize to every single Manchester City supporter and those who traveled today; this is simply embarrassing.
“Bodø played exceptional football and they deserved the win. Honestly, I don’t know what else to say, except I’m sorry.”
City has only managed to win two of their last seven matches across all competitions, with one of those victories coming against third-tier Exeter in the FA Cup.
Starting the seventh round of Champions League matches in fourth place, Guardiola’s team risks dropping out of the automatic qualification spots. Clubs finishing between 9th and 24th place will have to go through playoffs after next week’s final round.
“Today’s match was a tremendous opportunity for us,” Guardiola remarked, “but things are just not going our way in many aspects. That’s the reality, and we need to work on changing it. We have capable players and we made an effort.
“In this competition, nothing is guaranteed. United played better than us on Saturday. Today, it was momentum that hurt us,” he added.
City is also facing injury setbacks, particularly in defense, with center-backs Rúben Dias, John Stones, and Josko Gvardiol all sidelined, while right-back Matheus Nunes missed the match due to illness.
With their hopes of securing an automatic berth in the Champions League knockout stage fading, City faces a crucial final group match against Galatasaray next week.
“We entered the game lacking key players who provide stability to the squad,” Guardiola said. “They appeared somewhat fragile, similar to how they were last season during a particular stretch.
“Despite being down to 10 men, many players stepped up, but we must quickly change this trend for the upcoming match against Wolves, and then the final game against Galatasaray.”
Guardiola chose not to criticize Rodri, who has been struggling in what has been a challenging comeback season following a serious knee injury last year.
“It was a tough situation. We lost possession of the ball. They countered quickly, and sometimes you just react,” he explained. “The second yellow card was a bit soft, but it is what it is.”
This report includes contributions from The Associated Press and PA.