Reijnders insists Man City to remain composed after Leverkusen setback

Tijjani Reijnders emphasised that Manchester City will stay composed despite their unexpected 2 0 home defeat to Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola, the City manager, showed enough assurance to rotate his lineup with ten alterations, yet the team suffered a loss to the Bundesliga team Leverkusen on Tuesday evening.

This result halted Manchester Citys perfect record in the opening phase of Europes top club tournament, coming before their upcoming fixture against Real Madrid, the Spanish powerhouses, and just days after their Premier League reverse to Newcastle at the weekend.

"Of course it is a disappointment (but) we must not drop our belief because we performed well earlier and we need to resume that run of victories, which means preparing for the upcoming match on Saturday (at home to Leeds)," stated the Dutch midfielder Reijnders.

"We must be mentally prepared. We understand our capabilities and what we demonstrated previously. It is up to us to repeat that dont lose belief as we possess considerable talent in the squad.

"We ought not to panic at this point. Naturally, consecutive defeats are unwelcome but we realise there are numerous opportunities remaining this term and we must tackle each fixture in turn."

Midfielder Nico Gonzalez, a teammate of Reijnders, was the sole starter retained from the loss at St James Park, as Guardiola chose to give key players such as Erling Haaland, Phil Foden and Gianluigi Donnarumma a break.

However, strikes from Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick ensured Leverkusens dominance, and even bringing on Norwegian forward Haaland, who has netted 32 times for club and country this campaign, with a quarter of an hour left on the clock failed to shift the momentum for City.

Reijnders, though, made clear that this reverse would not impact Manchester Citys encounter with Real Madrid, the 15 time winners of the competition, at the Bernabeu on December 10. 

"I do not believe it will add further strain," he added. "We are aware of what to anticipate from Madrid there, but it is a few weeks away, so let us first focus on Saturday."