Guardiola: We are sad but tomorrow we have to stand up

Joe Williams

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola says his side are “sad” to exit the FA Cup at the semi-final stage but thinks they will “improve next season”.

Alexis Sanchez struck in the first-half of injury time to give the Arsenal a 2-1 victory over City in their FA Cup semi-final after Nacho Monreal had cancelled out Sergio Aguero’s opener in normal time.

And Guardiola reckons his side did “absolutely everything” to get the right result at Wembley on Sunday.

“In games like this, you can’t expect to control all the situations but we did most of the time,” Guardiola said.

“We performed like we would want to in a final. We did absolutely everything. Congratulations to Arsenal. We’ll improve next season. We competed here, we had more chances but the finishing was like it has been throughout the season.

“We played like we wanted to and that’s all. We are sad but tomorrow we have to stand up to finish the games we still have to play.

“I don’t have regrets about the team. We just have to compete in these games. We are here for the results. Next season we will be stronger.”