Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has opted to praise Bernardo Silva after his side's Champions League defeat to Real Madrid - despite the playmaker's awful miss in the penalty shootout on Wednesday night.
Luka Modric had already seen his shot saved when Silva stepped up hoping to double Real's advantage from 12 yards.
However, the Portugal international saw his tame effort easily saved by Andriy Lunin in the Real Madrid goal.
Los Blancos, who were under the cosh for the majority of the contest, then went on to progress and make the semi-finals of the prestigious tournament once again.
Guardiola was asked about Silva's poor penalty after the game.
And the City boss insisted the former Monaco man had been eager to take one, while also praising his overall performance.
"He said he wanted to take one and he is a reliable player," he said.
"But what a game he had."
Real took the lead at the Etihad Stadium through Rodrygo, who has now netted four times against City during the course of his career so far.
Kevin De Bruyne struck to send the match to extra-time, however, with City then spurning several good chances to put the fixture - and the tie - to bed.
Guardiola insists he's proud of the way his team performed, however, despite the agonising nature of the result.
"I have to say thank you to these players from deep in my heart because the way they played," he said.
"But football is about winning and we didn't do enough yet we were exceptional.
"Sometimes you can win on penalties and sometimes you cannot.
"But in the game we did not convert the chances that we had, even though we defended really.
"Everyone performed at a high level. We said we would have to be at our best to play Real Madrid and they were."
He continued: "I would have preferred to have won but congratulations to Real Madrid.
"We did everything so I have absolutely no regret about anything we have done.
"I always say as a manager, it is about scoring more and conceding less and we did everything.
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"We played exceptional but unfortunately we could not win so it is what it is"
City star Ruben Dias also discussed the result.
And the Portugal centre-back admitted it was a 'difficult one to take', especially given how dominant his side were.
"I don't know what to say. Frustrating. We dominated the whole game. You go to penalties. The effort was there. We had chances. It's a difficult one to take," he said.
"You always end up doing everything to try to avoid penalties. That's what they wanted.
"The team was there. We fought, we had our chances but it wasn't our day.
"We had the chances. Sometimes the ball goes in, sometimes it doesn't. Now we have to look forward at what's to come in the season.
"We won't have much time to rest. It's a busy part of the season. Now is a time to be strong especially in the head. We're still in two important competitions."
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