Pep Guardiola thanked Manchester City fans for their effort in the Champions League quarter-final with Tottenham.
The Blues boss called on supporters before the game to show they wanted to be in a semi-final and there was a superb atmosphere inside the Etihad for a blur of a game that saw seven goals and what would have been an injury-time winner for the home team ruled out by VAR.
If the team couldn't quite do their part, the fans were praised by the manager after the game for what he viewed as a personal best.
"Thank you so much to the fans for their incredible behaviour," he said. "It was an amazing night. I've never seen the stadium like that since I was here in Manchester. We are sad for all of them. I know and they know that. We gave absolutely everything and football is like this. It's unpredictable and unfortunately we are not in the next stage.
"It's cruel but we have to accept it. It was a nice game for everybody. In the second half we did everything. It is not easy to create chances and we created a lot, we were punished a lot for our mistakes. We scored the goals we needed but it was a bad ending so congratulations to Tottenham and all the best for the semi-final."
