Arteta refuses to blame Pep for City's 1-2 loss

Assistant manager Mikel Arteta

Assistant coach Mikel Arteta refused to use the absence of Pep Guardiola as an excuse after Manchester City suffered a shock loss to Lyon in their Champions League opener.

City boss Guardiola could only watch from the stands due to a touchline ban as City were beaten 1-2 at the Etihad Stadium. The hosts were punished for mistakes as Maxwel Cornet and Nabil Fekir struck in the first half and they could not recover despite being given a lifeline by Bernardo Silva after the break. Asked if City's performance might have been different with input from Guardiola, assistant boss Arteta said: "I have no idea. That's something hypothetical. The reality is that Pep wasn't here and we lost the game. If he would have been on the touchline I couldn't say if we would have won 5-0 or lost 0-3."

A suspended Man City boss Pep Guardiola watches his team play Lyon from the stands. Pic/AFP

City had been installed as competition favourites prior to the group stages getting under way but Arteta conceded the team were not up to standard. He said: "We started a bit slow, we weren't consistent in the way we tried to play.

"We gave the ball away in the build-up in difficult circumstances and they took advantage and scored twice. You have zero margin in the Champions League. When you make mistakes, you get punished."

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