I went through Pep’s entire Champions League managerial career to see how often his teams actually came back after losing the first leg of a knockout tie since I saw a tweet on how he never has made comeback in Champions League.

The tweet was wrong but surprisingly, it has only happened twice in his entire career - once with Barcelona and once with Bayern. It has never happened with Manchester City.

Barcelona era

2008/09

• Won the Champions League (no comeback situation).

2009/10

• Lost first leg to Inter at San Siro.
• Eliminated in the semifinal.

2010/11

• Lost first leg to Arsenal in the Round of 16.
• Won the second leg and advanced.
• Went on to win the Champions League.
• First comeback from a first-leg deficit.
• Won the Champions League.

2011/12

• Lost first leg to Chelsea.
• Drew 2-2 in the second leg.
• Eliminated in the semifinal.

Bayern Munich era

2013/14

• Lost both legs to Real Madrid.
• Semifinal exit.

2014/15

• Lost first leg to Porto (1-3).
• Won second leg 6-1.
• Second comeback from a first-leg deficit.
• Eliminated by Barcelona in the semifinal.

2015/16

• Lost first leg to Atletico Madrid (0-1).
• Won second leg 2-1 but eliminated on away goals.
• Semifinal exit.

Manchester City era

2016/17

• Beat Monaco in the first leg.
• Lost second leg and eliminated on away goals.

2017/18

• Lost both legs to Liverpool.
• Quarterfinal exit.

2018/19

• Lost first leg to Tottenham.
• Won second leg but eliminated on away goals.

2019/20

• Single-leg COVID quarterfinal.
• Eliminated by Lyon.

2020/21

• Reached the final.
• Lost to Chelsea.

2021/22

• Won first leg against Real Madrid.
• Collapsed in the second leg and eliminated.

2022/23

• Won the Champions League.

2023/24

• Drew both legs vs Real Madrid.
• Eliminated on penalties.

2024/25

• Lost both legs to Real Madrid.

Summary

Across 17 seasons of Champions League management, Pep Guardiola has only overturned a first-leg deficit twice:

• Barcelona vs Arsenal (2011)
• Bayern Munich vs Porto (2015)

He has never overturned a first-leg deficit with Manchester City in the Champions League.