Savinho gave us the spark we missed - Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola said that Savinho provided the spark for the second half comeback that saw City beat Club Brugge 3-1 to secure a place in the UEFA Champions League play-offs.

His side were facing an early exit when we trailed at half-time to the Belgian side with only a victory guaranteeing a safe passage.

The City boss made a change at half-time with Savinho coming on with the winger immediately forcing early crosses and corners shortly after his introduction.

Mateo Kovacic levelled with an excellent individual goal before an own goal from Joel Ordonez put us ahead.

Victory was secured with Savinho’s smart finish with the Brazilian earning praise from the boss for helping to turning the clash around.

“We were out,” Guardiola said about the situation when City trailed. “When you are out, you play with nothing to lose.

“We go forward. The first half was so dynamic but we missed the spark. Savinho help us like all the season when he play there. He was unbelievable. He changed the game and after five or ten minutes had won two or three corners. Our crowd reacted and we had the chances.

“The way we play that way, Brugge had more chances in the second half than the first. In the first half when they were so tight and defended with man to man marking, we needed the quality, the spark, the one player to make the individual action to score and we missed it.

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“Maybe we felt the pressure. Sometimes you are winning 2-0, you are scared to lose. When you are 1-0 down and out of the Champions League, you have nothing to lose.

“In the right moments we found the goals. It has been a really tough group stage because the game against Inter was really good.

“It was not easy to win at Juventus or PSG. We did it, we are there. In two weeks we will be better than we are now because players will be back and we will have the new signings. We will play one of two giants [Bayern Munich or Real Madrid]. We’ll see what happens and how we arrive.”

The game was the eighth of the new league format which replaced the previous eight groups of four clubs with a 36-team table.

Asked about his view of the change, Guardiola predicts that other teams will also find qualification difficult.

“I like it,” he said. “We suffered a lot but in the last game how many important teams can be out, it’s nice.

“We play more games in November, December and when we are not ready, we suffer.

“In the future more important teams will live what we live this season. Or maybe not because they will realise that if we are not ready at the beginning of the season, we could be out.

“We were 45 minutes away from being out. It's an incredible lesson for all the clubs and me, nothing is for granted. It’s so difficult.

“Look at Brugge, how incredible a team they are. Today is okay. Congratulations to the team because still they have pride.”