Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has explained why he switched Kevin De Bruyne and Erling Haaland before losing on penalties to Real Madrid.

Guardiola led Man City to the Champions League last season as part of a historic three-match winning streak, but they were knocked out of the semi-finals on Wednesday by Spain.

Rodrygo opened the scoring for the La Liga giants, but De Bruyne made extra time and scored after he equalized for City in the 76th minute.

De Bruyne and Haaland, Man City's most important strikers, were surprisingly dropped before the game. To the penalty shootout.

Haaland was replaced by Julian Alvarez in the 91st minute, while De Bruyne closed for Mateo Kovacic eight minutes before the goal.

Guardiola has now revealed why De Bruyne and Haaland have been substituted, claiming both players have asked for a break.

Guardiola said in a post-match press conference that Erling Haaland and Kevin De Bruyne had asked to leave.

They could not continue. In competition, they are really great. I did not plan to change much, but they asked me to leave because I could not continue.

Guardiola added: “I want to win first. Congratulations to Real Madrid. They defended well. We did everything. I have no regrets. We played by all expectations and unfortunately we could not win.

They defend better than previous seasons. We created chances, but football is about scoring goals and they did it better than us.

I have an obligation to thank these City players for the way they are playing against that team.

Football is about results, it is business, they will reach the semi-finals.