Pep Guardiola's former assistant manager at Manchester City says the players should take some of the blame for their Champions League underperformances.
City have made it through to the semi-finals for the first time under Guardiola, having suffered a shock defeat to Lyon last season when Raheem Sterling was guilty of a glaring miss.
Speaking to Spox, via Sport Witness, Guardiola's former assistant, Domenec Torrent, who was at City from 2016 to 2018, said it would be unfair to blame the manager for defeats like the one against Lyon.
Torrent, who also worked under Guardiola at Barcelona and Bayern Munich before opting to take over New York City as head coach, hailed his former manager as a genius who deserves to win the Champions League again.
"It was bad luck," he said of the loss to Lyon. "Raheem Sterling did not hit the empty goal from a few metres. Is that supposed to be the fault of the coach? No. Pep also makes mistakes.
"Still, he’s a genius. And it's human nature to like to see geniuses fail. It was the same with musicians like Mozart. People have enjoyed criticising him when he made a mistake for making mistakes so rarely. It’s similar with Pep.
"But I know him well and know that he can handle the criticism.
"And even if he were denied this third Champions League title: in 20 years, when he sits at home with his family and looks back on his career over a glass of wine, he will be happy and satisfied.
"Still, I hope he wins this title. He deserves it.
"No genius should go unrewarded."
