STADIO SAN SIRO (Milan) – Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was full of praise for Atalanta after the two sides played out a thrilling 1-1 draw at the Stadio San Siro.
The point was Atalanta’s first in the Champions League and it was hard-earned after they delivered an excellent performance in the second half to fight back from a goal behind.
“You’ve got to take your hat off to Atalanta,” Guardiola said at his post-match press conference
“We see them play week in week out, we know how good they are. Ask teams in Serie A. They’ll tell you how hard they are to face.
“We took four points from them. That’s good.”
Kyle Walker was forced to spend the last ten minutes in goal for the visitors after their substitute goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off for a foul on Josip Ilicic.
“Kyle was suggested because of his courage and he’s quick,” the Catalan coach explained.
“Congratulations to him for helping the team and going in this position.”
The crisis came about because Ederson, who started in goal, was replaced by the Chilean at half time and the extent of the Brazilian’s problems remain a mystery.
“It’s a muscular problem,” he explained. “It was a risk so we took him off as he was feeling it late in the first half.
“We don’t know [how long he’ll be out for].”
