Kevin de Bruyne expressed his frustration at Manchester City making the same old mistakes in the wake of their elimination from the Champions League and singled out Houssem Aouar for his superb performance in Lyon’s victory.
City were firm favourites to progress into the semi-finals but came up short once again in Europe as Lyon punished their lacklustre display at Sporting’s Estadio Jose Alvalade on Saturday evening.
Maxwel Cornet curled a precise effort round Ederson to open the scoring midway through the first half before De Bruyne found the back to give Pep Guardiola’s men hope with 20 minutes remaining in Lisbon.
But Moussa Dembele restored Lyon’s lead just four minutes after coming on for Memphis Depay and Raheem Sterling passed up a golden opportunity to equalise in the 86th minute, somehow firing over an empty net from close range when it appeared easier to score.
Sterling’s nervousness appeared to spread as Ederson fumbled a tame strike from Aouar straight to Dembele’s feet and the second-half substitute made no mistake from close range to put the tie to bed.
Speaking to BT Sport shortly after the final whistle, De Bruyne said: ‘It’s a different year, same stuff.
‘First half wasn’t good enough, I think we know that. We started slow, we didn’t have many options.
‘I think second half we played really well. We came back at 1-1 and had a couple of chances. It was then obviously 2-1 and 3-1 to end the game. It was a shame for us to go out in that way.’
De Bruyne bemoaned Sterling’s shocking miss at the death and said City must learn from their errors which have cost them so dearly in the Champions League.
‘I think the second half we played well, we had them under pressure, we played more offensive like we normally do and we had them,’ he added.
‘Their ‘keeper made a few saves and at 2-1, if Raz [Sterling] scores it’s 2-2 and the game goes on.
‘That’s football, that’s fine margins that made a difference and you know, it’s over now. We need to learn, it’s not good enough.’
De Bruyne went on to applaud Lyon’s spirited performance and praised Aouar for his contribution in Portugal.
Asked whether City’s players were ‘destabilised’ by Guardiola’s change in approach, the Belgian told RMC Sport: ‘I don’t know, I am going to have to rewatch the match.
‘Maybe there is the tactics of the manager and the players.
‘The titles we have won, they came when we scored and defended well.
‘We made several errors this year on both sides, you cannot do that. I think that OL play very well, like a team.’
On the player who impressed him most, De Bruyne responded: ‘There is Aouar who had a good game today.’
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