City face a huge task against the 15-times winners of the trophy following our 3-0 defeat at the Bernabeu.
Federico Valverde scored a first half hat-trick although a penalty save from Gianluigi Donnarumma penalty save from Vinicius Junior could prove pivotal if we are to turn the tie around.
Real madrid 3-0 City | Match report
Our captain said it’s a tough result to take but believes the players will dust themselves down and be ready for the second leg at the Etihad on Tuesday 17 March.
“At 3-0 it makes it a bit more difficult,” he said. “Now it feels really bad, now it feels really dark. Tomorrow is another day and for sure next week we will go to the game thinking we have a chance.
“Right now is the moment to reflect and see what we didn’t do right. Then next week when we are preparing we will be hopeful we can do something.”
City began well with Jeremey Doku looking a threat but Valverde struck twice in seven minutes before adding a third before the break.
“It is difficult to speak about it because I would need to watch it again,” Bernardo said.
“My feeling on the pitch was that we started the game well.
“The environment we could not control and I think my team let the emotions change the game.
“We felt comfortable and were finding the right spaces but after conceding the first one we lost completely the control, we stopped controlling transitions and second balls.
“When you play against Real Madrid with the quality they have, you pay the price.”
The Bernabeu is known for being a fortress, yet City are no stranger to iconic stadiums and Bernardo explained how the squad will learn from the atmosphere and experience.
“It is a tough stadium to play at,” he added. “We are used to playing at these stadiums because playing at Anfield and St James’ Park is very tough.
“You need to go through these moments to become better and today was just a learning game for the whole team.
“It is quite frustrating [we didn’t score], even though we believe it is still possible because in football a lot of things can happen, at half-time we were saying, ‘the situation is bad’ there were a lot of things that shouldn’t have happened but with one goal you are in the tie.”
