After last week’s 3-2 defeat at the Etihad Stadium, Pep Guardiola’s men went to the Santiago Bernabeu for the second leg with an uphill task, but Carlo Ancelotti’s side attacked with pace and precision as Kylian Mbappe bagged a hat-trick to put the tie in their command.
Nico tapped in a consolation for the Blues in stoppage time but Mbappe’s goals did the damage and saw City exit the competition in the play-off round.
After the game, in an interview with City TV, Dias admitted that City had to perform better on the night and has urged the team to accept the loss and seek improvement for the future.
“We were not good enough. Shake hands and we look forward,” he said truthfully. “We have a lot to improve, we have to be better. Football is like this.
“It’s the moment and you have to be good enough in the moment and if you’re not good enough in the moment then football takes over. It is what it is.
“Obviously, in our minds the disappointment is maybe heavier than usual because we don’t like to lose. We don’t like to be in this position. It’s not just that we’ve got used to winning every year, it’s just out mentality, it’s our way of being, it’s our air that we breathe.
“As such, it hurts more. We don’t take it lightly. The only way to improve and the only way to look forward is to accept what happened, and today we were not good enough.
“I say it without any problem, you have to accept it. It’s the only way to move forward and the only way to actually look at ourselves and realise that we have to do better. We were not better than them. As such they deserved to go through.”
The defender also provided some praise for the recent displays of new signing Nico and looked ahead to the remainder of the domestic campaign.
Watch the entire post-match interview via the video player at the top of the page.
