Pep Guardiola can't go out like this?! Winners and losers as dressed-down Man City boss counts cost of Bernardo Silva handball in another Champions League loss to old enemies Real Madrid

Guardiola's expected departure from City at the end of this season has been the elephant in the room throughout this season, but the coach has always given it short shrift. And he was in no mood to entertain the rumours after his side's 2-1 defeat on Tuesday, which capped an emphatic 5-1 aggregate loss and a third successive knockout loss to Madrid.

"Oh, everybody wants to fire me, right? Oh my god, guys! One day I will come here and say, 'Bye bye, guys!' And still I'm here, one more year of contract," was how he responded to a question about his future, while he also declared: "Next season, we will be back".

His pithy response was a reminder that Guardiola will leave on his own terms, but the question that remains to be answered is whether he can bear to leave having only won Europe's biggest prize once with City.

Bernardo Silva's summer departure actually feels more inevitable than Guardiola's, and the captain was the main villain of the night, his sending off killing the tie after just 20 minutes. Guardiola bemoaned the red card and penalty award that came with it, but Madrid just got on with things, above all Vinicius Jr and Thibaut Courtois.

Things often seem to fall Madrid's way in this competition. How Guardiola would love to have such luck in the Champions League, which somehow still seems to find new ways to haunt him.

GOAL breaks down the winners & losers from the Etihad Stadium...

Vinicius has needed a statement for over a year. Whether due to bad form or the abuse he continues to have to suffer from both the stands and opposition players, it's been some time since we have been able to talk positively about the Brazilian solely from a football perspective.

Here, Vinicius was direct and to the point. City played a near-suicidal high line, which allowed Madrid's No.7 to scamper into space time and time again. He 'won' the penalty and then converted it, and though he probably should have completed a hat-trick within 10 minutes of his opener, and had another goal ruled out for offside late on, he was still in the mood to secure victory on the night with a tidy finish in stoppage time.

Only Lionel Messi has scored more knockout goals in the Champions League among non-European players, and Vinicius spoke post-match of the "best part of the season" now being upon us. Fortunately for Madrid, their Champions League specialist looks to be in the mood for more.

Bernardo had said in the pre-match press conference that "this sport has taught us that a lot of things can happen in a football game", and while he pledged that he and his team-mates would "fight until the end" he also warned that "if we concede, the tie is over." Of all the things he could have imagined happening in the game, he probably didn't contemplate being sent off for the first time in his career and conceding a game-changing penalty in the process.

When Bernardo looks back on all his battles against Madrid in a few years time, there will be contrasting emotions. The Portuguese scored the first two goals in the 4-0 rout of Los Blancos in the 2023 semi-finals, but one year later he missed the penalty in the shootout which saw Madrid avenge that defeat and sneak past City in the quarter-finals.

It is difficult to imagine any loss that was more painful than the last-gasp collapse at the Bernabeu in 2022, but this must be a close second for Bernardo, with it made worse by the fact that it will almost certainly be his last act in the competition with City as he winds down his exceptional career with the club.

Of course Courtois stood up to be counted on a big night for Real Madrid - it's just what he does. When the stakes are at their absolute highest, the big Belgian goalkeeper always shows up. The statistics show that he only made four saves, but it truly felt like more, such were their importance.

Every type of stop was on show here: high, low, leaping, diving. Sure, he conceded, but Courtois could have done nothing about Erling Haaland's trickled finish.

There is an asterisk in that he went off injured at half-time, with what was described as an 'overload'. But for 45 minutes, Courtois ensured this would be a comfortable night for the visitors.

As much as Guardiola insisted he and his players believed in the comeback, he couldn't even be bothered to dress up for the occasion. The Catalan's chequered lumberjack shirt was more appropriate for a hungover trip to the convenience store than a knockout match in the biggest club competition against the world's grandest club. His fashion choice seemed to suggest he had already checked out of the tie, and so too did his team.

It would be harsh to criticise Guardiola for accepting his side's fate early, particularly with the Carabao Cup final against Arsenal to come on Sunday. But the coach must shoulder responsibility for City being at such a disadvantage in the first place due to his hubristic tactics in the first leg.

Guardiola has been dealt many rough hands in the Champions League despite being a three-time winner, and being paired with Madrid in the last five editions of the competition must have felt like more than just bad luck. However, it felt like this was the perfect occasion to beat Los Blancos given their injury situation and their turbulent season, but he couldn't take advantage.

Even with the misfortune of playing Madrid so often, Guardiola's return of one Champions League title in a decade with City feels like short change. It could even be motivation for him staying on as coach next season and having one last crack at winning it again, ideally without having to cross the aristocrats of European football.

Did Madrid's managerial switch work after all? Xabi Alonso seemed a near perfect fit at first, but when it became clear that he wanted to try to get Madrid to do more than just roll up and showcase their immense talents in whichever way they felt necessary on the day, he was swiftly shown the door. It was harsh, of course, but inevitable.

Alvaro Arbeloa was a puzzling fit to replace him, if only because his managerial credentials are so limited. Still, he's started to capture a little of Madrid's European magic already. Los Blancos are winning games without dominating, scoring goals without fully playing well all of the time.

Even more impressive is the fact that this was done while Madrid werre plagued with injury woes. Neither Jude Bellingham or Rodrygo were available, while Kylian Mbappe only managed half an hour across the two games and Antonio Rudiger missed the entire first leg. First- and second-choice left-backs, Alvaro Carreras and Ferland Mendy, as well as Eder Militao were all also missing.

But Arbeloa seems to have instilled a belief, and a crucial confidence in the biggest of games. Will that be enough to land him the job full-time, or even go any further in the Champions League? Perhaps not, but this has at least shown he has the credentials to be kept on past the end of the season.

Haaland may have scored his fourth goal in eight games against Madrid on Tuesday, but the Norwegian had yet another harrowing night against the team he nearly joined instead of City. He witnessed more goalmouth action than in some of his previous outings against the kings of the competition, but he lacked composure, fluffing his lines against both Courtois and substitute goalkeeper Andriy Lunin.

Still, it was a surprise that he was hauled off by Guardiola with only 56 minutes on the clock. The Norwegian took the decision well and went to hug Guardiola as he left the pitch, but inside he must have been hurting. For the third year in a row, his Champions League ended much earlier than planned and his wait to score in the competition's final - which he failed to do when City won it in 2023 - drags on.

Haaland still has the Champions League theme music as his phone's ring tone and winning it once is not going to satisfy him. Perhaps a tiny part of him regrets that decision to turn down Madrid and move to City?...

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