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Tag: Guardiola

  • Forget about quadruple Guardiola calms expectation after quarter-final win

    Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said he was “so, so, so, so so, happy” after his side reached the semi-finals of the Carabao Cup following a penalty shootout victory over Leicester.

    Goalkeeper Claudio Bravo, who saved two spot-kicks in the previous round against Wolves, was again the visitors’ hero – keeping out Riyad Mahrez’s effort after Jamie Vardy had hit the post.

    The home side had taken the game into extra-time and then penalties after scoring in the final minute of time added on.

    Vardy slotted home a penalty after Demarai Gray was harshly adjudged to have been brought down by Kyle Walker.

    Guardiola said: “What I liked the most is how we reacted and overcame that situation. It is a good indication for the future.”

    With both teams fielding second-string sides at the King Power Stadium, visiting winger Bernardo Silva scored the opener in the first half, slotting home his second goal of the season following Ilkay Gundogan’s powerful run from the halfway line.

    Arsenal also made it through to the last four by beating West Ham, while Chelsea host Bournemouth (kick-off 19:45 GMT) and Manchester United travel to Bristol City (20:00 GMT) on Wednesday.

    The draw for the semi-finals is scheduled to take place after full-time in the latter game, with the two-legged home and away ties to be played in January.

  • Pep Guardiola: Manchester City boss says he would not get into the team

    Pep Guardiola says his record-breaking Manchester City team is so good he would not have been able to get into it during his successful playing career.

    The Premier League leaders are the first English top flight side to win 15 consecutive league games.

    As a Barcelona midfielder Guardiola won six league titles, the European Cup and Uefa Cup Winners’ Cup in the 1990s.

    But asked if he would make the current City side, he said: “No way. Fernandinho is much, much better.”

    Guardiola, who won a third consecutive Premier League manager of the month award on Friday, is preparing his team to host fourth-placed Tottenham on Saturday (15:00 GMT).

    But he doubts whether City, who have an 11-point lead at the top of the table, can emulate Arsene Wenger’s ‘Invincibles’ Arsenal side, which went the entire 2003-04 Premier League season unbeaten.

    He said: “It is not going to happen. We are going to lose games, it belongs to Arsene Wenger.

    “Now what happens is an exception, it’s not normal what we’ve done. We’ll try to maintain it but we are going to lose games.

    “It is important is to play better, that’s important. Records are OK but they stay there and one day they will be broken. We focus on the pitch and try to be better, make chances, concede few.

    “I’m happy with the way we play – although I feel we can do much, much better.”

    Guardiola, who hopes to have captain Vincent Kompany available again for City’s Carabao Cup quarter-final against Leicester City on Tuesday, said he wants to sign a central defender in January.

    The Citizens are without long-term injured pair John Stones and Benjamin Mendy and Guardiola said central defence reinforcements are a priority.

    “We have just three centre backs fit,” he said. “Maybe we need a guy in that position. It’s complicated, we are taking a guy for the next years and have to be sure he’s the right guy to help us.”

    BBC Sports

  • Silva is an ‘animal’ says Guardiola after Man City’s record 15th win

    Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola praised the will to win of “animal” David Silva after his goals helped the Premier League leaders thrash Swansea and extend their record run of consecutive top-flight wins to 15.

    Silva scored twice and further goals from Kevin de Bruyne and Sergio Aguero ensured City maintained their 11-point lead over Manchester United at the top of the table, while Swansea remain bottom.

    The Spain playmaker elegantly flicked the fluent visitors in front from close range before De Bruyne’s whipped free-kick evaded several players on its way in.

    The procession continued after the interval as the elegant Silva delicately scooped the ball over Lukasz Fabianski for City’s third.

    Aguero then surged into the penalty area and drove in a late fourth as Swansea’s sixth defeat from nine home league matches this season left them rooted to the foot of the table, two points adrift of safety.

    “David is hugely competitive, everyone knows his skills, there is no doubt – a blind guy is able to see that – but you cannot imagine how competitive he is,” Guardiola told BBC Radio 5 live.

    “He is a stylish guy, but he is an animal, always wanting to win games.”

    City have now scored 52 times in 17 Premier League games, with Silva getting four in three games after also netting in the 2-1 wins over West Ham and Manchester United.

    “It is so important for us that not just Gabriel (Jesus) or Sergio (Aguero) score,” added Guardiola. “Our attacking midfielders, our wingers, our set pieces we can score goals and on the counter-attack, that’s why I’m delighted for David that he is scoring goals.”

    BBC Sports

  • Man Utd v Man City: Jose Mourinho on Pep Guardiola’s ‘political message’

    Manchester United boss Jose Mourinho does not think he would be allowed to make a political statement on the touchline like Manchester City counterpart Pep Guardiola.

    Guardiola has recently worn a yellow ribbon – a symbol of protest against the imprisonment of pro-independence politicians in the Spanish region of Catalonia.

    He dedicated City’s Champions League win over Napoli last month to the campaigners.

    Mourinho said: “If the rules allow us to do that, he is a free citizen. My doubt is if the rules allow any political message on the pitch.

    “I don’t think I would be allowed to.”

    Guardiola and Mourinho, who meet in the Manchester derby at Old Trafford on Sunday, have been rivals since the former was Barcelona boss and the latter was at Real Madrid between 2010 and 2012.

    If City win Sunday’s game it will be their 14th league victory in a row – a record in a single Premier League season.

    Guardiola, who was born in the Catalan region, has worn the ribbons to show his support for eight government members jailed for their part in an independence referendum the Spanish government ruled was illegal on 1 October.

    Speaking last month, he said: “We cannot ignore that these politicians or activists, who haven’t hurt anyone, are in prison for asking to vote.

    “Many things have happened but it’s all because we wanted to vote, because we wanted a legal referendum.”

    In 2015, Uefa fined Barcelona £21,250 after their fans unfurled pro-independence banners at the Champions League final in Berlin.

    Eighteen years earlier, European football’s governing body fined Liverpool striker Robbie Fowler £900 for revealing a shirt showing support for sacked dockworkers in the city.

    Uefa changed its regulations before this season so only offensive messages are now considered illicit.

    Last year, the Football Associations of England, Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland were fined by Fifa for displaying poppies during World Cup qualifiers.

  • Guardiola says he and Mourinho are like twins

    Pep Guardiola and Jose Mourinho have enjoyed a rivalry, in Spain and England, that has at times been acrimonious but the Manchester City manager believes they have something in common.

    The Spaniard believes that when it comes to the desire to win trophies they are identical.

    “Definitely. In that, we are twins,” said Guardiola when asked, ahead of Sunday’s derby clash, if he was as obsessed with winning as his United and former Real Madrid counterpart.

    “They want to win trophies, we want to win trophies.

    “I think Antonio Conte is the same as well, and Juergen (Klopp) and Mauricio (Pochettino), and in all the leagues around the world, the managers are (like that),” the former FC Barcelona manager added.

    “I never criticise my colleagues for the way they play. I never did in the past, I will never do it.

    “Football is magnificent for that, because every manager plays in the way they play. There are different ways to enjoy football. It’s simple like that,” he said.

    Keeping it simple is Guardiola’s mantra ahead of the highly anticipated derby.

    Although City head to Old Trafford with an eight-point lead over their local rivals, the Spaniard is determined that his team keep their focus.

    Their focus, he said, will be on doing what they have done so well this season — playing their style of possession football.

    “The big challenge is to play good, to try to control the start point. It’s hard, because it’s United at Old Trafford. We want to try to play our game.

    “The focus is going there relaxed and knowing that if we don’t win the individual duels, it will be almost impossible to beat them,” Guardiola said.

    “We will try to play well, to play good football, what we have done, to be what we are. So I would like to finish the game and go to the locker room and feel we were what we have been for the season.

    “As for the result, nobody knows what is going to happen. We will try to find the best way to play well and to win the game,” he said.

    While a victory would send City 11 points clear ahead of the festive season, Guardiola has little time for the notion that the game could be a title decider.

    “Winning, drawing or losing on Sunday, we are not going to win or lose the English Premier League. It’s December,” he said.

    “It’s an important game, because it’s United. You can get points and deny your opponent points. But it’s the same for them.

    “I am not going into the game thinking: OK, we have an eight-point lead. What do I have to do because we have an eight-point lead? The Premier League is a marathon. We haven’t even arrived at the halfway stage yet.

    “There are a lot of points to play for, more than 70. We just focus on the game, and the result, and then after, recovery and then thinking about Swansea three days later.

    “It’s simple like that. It’s about going there and doing our game. That is what I want to see from my players.”

  • Messi wants Guardiola back at Barca

    Pep Guardiola could make a stunning return to Barcelona, because Lionel Messi wants him back.

    The Spaniard left the Nou Camp after a revolutionary four-year spell before taking a sabbatical and going on to manage, first Bayern Munich, and now Manchester City.

    After a brief lull following Guardiola’s departure, Barcelona returned among Europe’s elite by becoming the first club in history to win a league, cup and Champions League Treble for a second time.

    However, a shocking 4-0 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain has led to reports Luis Enrique will leave his post as manager in the summer — and there are even fears Messi will go, with no new contract agreed as yet.

    It is our understanding that the five-time Ballon d’Or winner wants Guardiola to come back in the summer. Messi has personally called Guardiola and asked him to consider a return to the Nou Camp.

    He insists Enrique has created a rift so huge within the Barcelona camp that only the current City boss can repair. A managerial change in the summer seems inevitable as Barcelona are in freefall with both the league and Champions League seemingly out of reach.

    Ernesto Valverde, who has done an impressive job with Athletic Bilbao — and spent two years as a player at the Nou Camp — is the board’s first choice.

    While, 1992 European Cup-winning hero, Ronald Koeman, is another candidate. However, Messi has told the club’s hierarchy he wants Guardiola, as they negotiate a new deal. It is understood the striker has been asked his opinion before every managerial appointment — including that of the former captain back in 2008.

    Guardiola gave Messi the platform to become the best player on the planet by giving him centre stage with the sale of Ronaldinho. However, following a difficult spell in the Premier League, he may be tempted to return “home”.