Tijjani Reijnders insists there will be no panic or loss of confidence following Manchester City’s surprise defeat to Bayer Leverkusen.
Manager Pep Guardiola paid the price for making 10 changes on Tuesday as City were beaten 2-0 at home by the Bundesliga outfit in the Champions League.
The defeat ended their unbeaten start in the league phase and, with a tricky trip to Real Madrid coming up next, their top-eight prospects now look less certain.
It was also City’s second slip-up in the space of a few days after Saturday’s reverse at Newcastle, but midfielder Reijnders sees no reason for alarm.
The Dutchman said: “Of course it’s a bummer (but) we should not lose our confidence because we did great before and we have to get back on that winning streak, and that’s by being ready for the next game on Saturday.
“Mentally we have to be ready. We know what we can do and what we showed before. It’s on us to do that again – don’t lose the confidence because we have a lot of quality in the team.
“We should not panic now. Of course losing two times in a row is not a good thing but we know there are still plenty of chances this season and we have to go game to game.”
Midfielder Nico Gonzalez was the only player to retain his starting spot from St James’ Park as Guardiola opted to rest star names including Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Gianluigi Donnarumma.
It resulted in a lacklustre display which was punished by goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick in each half.
The prolific Haaland, who has scored 32 goals for club and country this season, came on for the last 25 minutes but not even he could not salvage the situation and Guardiola later accepted his selection had backfired.
It leaves City with work to do in the competition but Reijnders is adamant it will not affect the team’s approach at the Bernabeu on December 10.
He said: “I don’t think it will put extra pressure. We know what we can expect there from Madrid, but it’s in a couple of weeks so first let’s be ready for Saturday.”
