Pep Guardiola laments red card after third straight exit to Real Madrid

Pep Guardiola cut a familiar figure on Tuesday, proud of his team's fight, frustrated by the circumstances and insistent that Manchester City's future remains bright despite a third straight Champions League elimination at the hands of Real Madrid.

After losing the first leg 3-0, City conceded a penalty and were reduced to 10 men after 22 minutes of Tuesday's return fixture after captain Bernardo Silva's handball.

That made an improbable task virtually unmanageable, and Guardiola did not hide how much that moment coloured everything that followed.

"(The players) have always shown (spirit)," Guardiola said. "But after 3-0 and after 4-0 and 10 against 11, it was impossible.

"But the future will be bright and next season we'll be back."

He lamented that Tuesday's second leg of the last-16 tie never got the true test he felt his side had earned.

"I'm going to sleep and tomorrow let me challenge Madrid over 180 minutes 11 against 11. I wanted that feeling. That's all," Guardiola said.

"We are always really good but 10 against 11 for 75 minutes, if you are one or two up on aggregate ok, but when you are 4-0 down, it is more complicated."

Guardiola stressed the importance of experience for a squad undergoing transition.

"Next season I don't know what happens but (Abdukodir) Khusanov, Rayan Cherki, it is the first time playing Champions League, Antoine Semenyo. It needs time," he said.

"There's a lot of new players. But I saw many good things, we said 3-0 was almost impossible, but let's try it."

With a League Cup final against Arsenal looming on Sunday and a Premier League run-in still ahead, he urged focus rather than despair.

"We have a final on Sunday, we still have to fight and finish well in the Premier League (second-placed City are nine points behind Arsenal with a game in hand). Next season we will be back in the Champions League."

Asked about his own future, Guardiola, whose contract runs through the summer of 2027, said with a smile: "When I retire in ten years."

He brushed off suggestions that a single Champions League title in his tenure at City was not enough.

"Everybody wants to fire me! I have to win six Champions Leagues to be recognised," he said.

He acknowledged that Real Madrid, where anything short of winning is judged harshly, operate under a different pressure.

"With time, maybe we will get that," he said.

Asked if he had a message for City fans, Guardiola said: "They know what they have seen. They know it was close."

His final reflection was not about Madrid at all, but about the rivalry he felt pushed City the hardest.

"No," he said when asked if the Spanish giants were his greatest foe. "Juergen Klopp at Liverpool was my biggest challenge. Those games were a great learning experience for the team."

(Reporting by Lori Ewing Editing by Toby Davis)