Pep Guardiola: “Riyad Mahrez can take a break now with the penalties”

A goalless draw in Signal Iduna Park was more than enough for the hosts, Borussia Dortmund, and the visitors, Manchester City, to guarantee their presence in the next round of the Champions League.

It was a tight contest between the two teams, saw a lot of attempts and threats from both sides, but without success in the end, to split a point each.

Manchester City secured the top spot of Group G with 11 points, before one round from the end of the group stage, while Dortmund secured the second spot with 8 points.

Riyad Mahrez was the story of the game, as the Algerian winger missed another spot kick, that again cost his team 2 points.

Mahrez repeated what he had done in the previous game against Copenhagen in Denmark, when he missed a spot kick that was saved by the Polish goalkeeper, Kamil Grabara.

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Against Dortmund, Swiss goalkeeper, Gregor Kobel, played the hero role with a penalty save from the City’ player, and that didn’t go well with his manager, Pep Guardiola, as Mahrez has now failed from the spot with three of his last four kicks for City.

 “Since I’ve been here, we’ve missed 24 or 25 penalties – it’s too many.” Pep Guardiola speaking to BT Sport “You always have to admire the courage but missing so many penalties is a problem. We have to improve. It comes down to fine margins in this competition and these situations can make the difference.”

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Guardiola praised the courage of Mahrez to step up and take a penalty again but went on to say: “He will reflect. He can take a break now with the penalties.”