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Tag: Man City

  • FA Cup: No distractions facing Man Utd in final – Guardiola

    FA Cup: No distractions facing Man Utd in final – Guardiola

    Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says they’ll throw everything at Manchester United in today’s FA Cup final.

    City have the Champions League final in a week’s time.

    But Guardiola says: “They know that these players will give everything to beat Manchester United.

    “The consequence of the result, who knows it? I don’t know it. I don’t think Erik ten Hag knows it.

    “But enjoy the moment. Tonight, when the people travel and tomorrow, unfortunately there’s still the strikes with the train, enjoy it and enjoy the same next week for the next final to see their team. It’s the best way.

    “You have to understand it’s a football game. Everything can happen. And we are going to do everything, everything we can do to win against United.

    “I understand completely for the City fans, who were in their shadow for decades, we are playing the first time in our history the FA Cup against them. For them, too, the first time. So we will try to do the best game as possible.

    “United in the FA Cup final deserves our full attention and commitment.”

  • Haaland best striker I’ve ever seen – Mark Hughes

    Haaland best striker I’ve ever seen – Mark Hughes

    Former Manchester City manager Mark Hughes has stated Erling Haaland is the best striker he has ever seen.

    Hughes was a formidable frontman in his own right when he played for Manchester United.

    He also played alongside the likes of Eric Cantona, Andy Cole, Gianluca Vialli, Gianfranco Zola, and Gary Lineker at various clubs.

    Hughes told The Sun: “I can’t say I’ve ever seen a phenomenon quite like Haaland. And he will surely only get better because he’s clearly driven.

    “He’s not going to get motivated by money because he’s already a very wealthy young man.

    “He just wants to make his mark on the game. For him, it’s not about how many cars he’s got in the garage or whatever.

  • Man City in once in a lifetime position – Guardiola

    Man City in once in a lifetime position – Guardiola

    Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has said the club is currently in a once in a lifetime position.

    He wants his players to recharge after Sunday’s Premier League finale.

    The champions will close out their Premier League campaign against Brentford before their FA Cup and Champions League final commitments.

    Guardiola said: “If we had played one game a week for the last month, maybe I wouldn’t give the players two days off but in that moment we need to disconnect.

    “Even our physios and doctors and chefs, they work incredibly hard in this period. They don’t have time off. They need to disconnect.

    “They are here working 10 hours to get the players ready to help them recover, and help them get it in this stressful period.

    “That’s why, go with your families, if the sun is shining, play golf, do whatever you want and go to the quality to prepare for the finals. You have to train a little but exactly what we need to arrive in the best conditions for the final, they know.

    “Everybody knows what position we are in. It comes once in a lifetime, twice in a lifetime?

    “Being champions in the Premier League three games before the end and play two finals – that doesn’t come every season. Once we are there, first of all you have to relax and enjoy and do your best. No one can be sure we will be in that position again.”

  • Man City plan swap for Bayern Munich midfielder

    Man City plan swap for Bayern Munich midfielder

    Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is targeting Bayern Munich midfielder Joshua Kimmich.

    The Sun says the Germany international is seen as a potential replacement for Ilkay Gundogan.

    The City captain comes off contract at the end of next month.

    And Guardiola is keen on Kimmich as a replacement, having worked with the midfielder when in charge of Bayern.

    A swap involving Joao Cancelo, currently on-loan at Bayern, has been mooted.

  • Arteta inconsolable, says Arsenal fell short

    Arteta inconsolable, says Arsenal fell short

    Arsenal manager Mikel Arteta graciously congratulated Manchester City for winning the Premier League on Saturday, but there was no concealing his agony.

    This was after his team had led the race for so long but lost form in the crucial run-in.

    Eight points clear two months ago, Arsenal won only two of their last eight games, with defeat to Nottingham Forest handing the title to Pep Guardiola’s unstoppable side.

    “It’s a really sad day. We fell short,” a grim-faced Arteta told reporters after the 1-0 loss at the City Ground.

    “I congratulate Manchester City. They are the champions, they deserved to win. I apologise because we have generated that belief that we could do it, but we were unable to and that is my responsibility.

    “Today we should have played much better. We gave them a goal.

    “When you come to April and May, you need 24 players playing at their best, full of confidence and ready to go, and for many reasons we have not had that.”

    Arteta, who used to work under Guardiola at Manchester City, has however achieved a remarkable turnaround in form for Arsenal, who are a comfortable second in the world’s toughest league.

    They led the standings for 248 days this season: the most for any team who have then failed to win the Premier League.

    “It has been an incredible journey for us over 10 months competing with Manchester City, being ahead of them for so long. We were so eager to go for something in sport and we didn’t reach it,” Arteta said.

    “We have learned huge lessons. We have transformed a lot at this club, we have made huge steps, but the icing on the cake is to win a championship and we fell short.”

    Arteta said it was too early and raw to start talking about next season’s goals. “Today, it is just sadness,” he added.

    “We wanted to find a way, to squeeze everything we had in that group… At the end, it wasn’t enough.

    “I know we are not at that level (of Manchester City), but we have to find a way… We have to find other ways to do it. For example, today we should have played much better… We have to push.

    “We are yet to win. I want to win. I love winning. And when you don’t get there, it’s painful. We have conceded a lot of goals, you can’t sustain that and win this league.

    “Now we must heal. It is very painful. I have to find a way to lift the players and we have a tough week ahead of us.”

    His players shared the pain, but goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale also struck a positive note going forward.

    “Deep down we know what we have achieved. When the dust settles we will be proud, but this is a learning curve for us. It is a season to be proud of for Arsenal football club,” he said.

    “It’s a disappointing end. We have one more game and we need to put a smile back on the fans’ faces.”

  • BREAKING: Arsenal stumble as Man City crowned EPL champions

    BREAKING: Arsenal stumble as Man City crowned EPL champions

    Manchester City have been crowned Premier League champions for the third successive season after title rivals Arsenal lost at Nottingham Forest.

    The Gunners, top for the majority of the campaign, are four points behind City with only one game left to play after being beaten 1-0 on Saturday.

    Pep Guardiola’s side have won the title in five of the past six campaigns.

    They also have a chance to claim the Treble, with the FA Cup and Champions League finals to come next month.

    Only Manchester United, in 1998-99, have previously achieved that feat – and it is their derby rivals whom City will meet at Wembley on 3 June, before facing Inter Milan a week later in Istanbul, where they will seek their first Champions League triumph.

  • I had feeling Man City were ready to deliver, says Guardiola

    I had feeling Man City were ready to deliver, says Guardiola

    Manchester City were perfectly prepared with the right mix of calmness and tension for their Champions League semi-final against Real Madrid, manager Pep Guardiola said on Wednesday.

    The English champions dismantled the holders 4-0 with a ruthless display to secure a 5-1 aggregate win.

    The result meant Manchester City secured a final berth against Inter Milan where they will bid to win European club soccer’s most prestigious trophy for the first time.

    It was sweet revenge for a painful semi-final loss to Real 12 months ago.

    “I had the feeling these last days that we had a mix of calm and tension to play these type of games.

    “And after 10 or 15 minutes, I had the feeling that all the pain that we had, what happened last season . . . it was really tough, losing the way we lost and I think in the moment we had to swallow poison,” Guardiola told reporters.

    Real Madrid knocked Manchester City out 12 months ago 6-5 on aggregate after an extraordinary late comeback.

    “In sport, obviously you have another chance and when the draw was Madrid, I said, ‘Yeah, I want it’,” Guardiola said.

    Bernardo Silva netted a first-half double to put City in control and, after Erling Haaland failed to convert two gilt-edged chances, Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez completed the rout.

    Real Madrid arrived with history on their side as title-holders and record 14-times European champions.

    But Manchester City, buoyed by an unbeaten 23-game run in all competitions, had not lost in 26 Champions League matches at the Etihad Stadium, which was a writhing sea of sky blue for the visit of the Spanish giants.

    Manchester City had played the 2021 semi-final against Paris St Germain in Manchester with no fans in attendance due to the COVID-19 pandemic.

    This time the players stayed on the pitch long after the final whistle to celebrate, with Haaland wearing a Norwegian flag draped around his shoulders.

    “(Tonight was) much, much better,” Guardiola said. “I felt, I don’t know why, you smelled that the team was ready to compete at the level that they competed today.”

    City are three wins away from a treble as they play Manchester United in the FA Cup final on June 3 and could win the Premier League as early as Saturday.

    “We’re closer. This season is really really good, what we’ve really done already.

    “The pleasure, the joy, how much we have fun this season again and again. We make happy our fans, all around the world watching us, they see a good team playing. This is the biggest compliment,” Guardiola said.

    Guardiola added that the players, staff and families would gather for a team breakfast before enjoying a day off on Thursday ahead of their preparations for their final push to clinch the English League title.

    Victory over Inter Milan in the Champions League final in Istanbul on June 10 would secure the one trophy Abu Dhabi’s Sheikh Mansour has craved since buying Manchester City in 2008.

    Manchester City lost to Chelsea two years ago in their only previous appearance in the final.

  • Erling’s dad removed from seat after celebrating at Bernabeu

    Erling’s dad removed from seat after celebrating at Bernabeu

    Alfie Haaland says he was escorted from his seat at the Bernabeu because Real Madrid fans were “not happy” with his celebrations after Kevin de Bruyne’s equaliser for Manchester City in the Champions League semi-final first leg.

    Video on social media appears to show Erling Haaland’s dad taunting the home fans before being removed from his box.

    Haaland tweeted: “OK. RM was not happy we were celebrating KDB goal.

    “Other than that we had to move because RM fans not happy with 1-1.”

    De Bruyne scored in the 67th minute to cancel out Vinicius Junior’s opener.

    Haaland waved with both hands while smiling at the crowd below him, cupping his ears to the Real Madrid fans and gesticulating, while reports in Spain suggested he threw food at the supporters.

    He tweeted again on Wednesday to say it was “not true” that he had thrown anything.

    “We had some good banter with Madrid fans,” he added. “They were not happy when City scored. Typical.

    “Then we had to move 50 meters away. Nothing more. All happy. Well nearly.”

    The former Manchester City and Leeds midfielder is a regular at City’s matches, where his son has scored 51 goals so far this season.]

    BBC

  • Why we let Haaland join Man City – Bayern Munich chief

    Why we let Haaland join Man City – Bayern Munich chief

    Bayern Munich chief Oliver Kahn has explained allowing Erling Haaland to join Premier League giant Manchester City last summer.

    Haaland left Borussia Dortmund for City amid rival interest from Bayern.

    Kahn recalled to BILD: “We tried everything for Erling Haaland and we pushed our limits.

    “In the end we had to think: ‘Do we want to blow up the whole salary structure and in that way throw everything out of balance?’

    “We weren’t prepared to do that. Bayern Munich is not like that.”

  • Keown faults Arsenal’s defence approach towards Haaland

    Keown faults Arsenal’s defence approach towards Haaland

    Former Arsenal defender Martin Keown faults the team’s defence against Manchester City in a Premier League fixture on Wednesday.

    The Gunners put in an insipid defensive display, losing 4-1 to the champions and suffering a huge blow to their title aspirations.

    Erling Haaland was rampant in the game, providing two assists and scoring the fourth goal himself.

    “If I was playing, Haaland would be all I was thinking about,” Keown declared to BT Sport.

    “Holding lost that battle. The very first challenge, that’s where they concede the first goal.

    “You’ve got to put your marker down, you’ve got to be physical, maybe take a booking. But Haaland is just strutting around that pitch and it looked really easy at times.

    “That’s something these young Arsenal defenders are going to have to learn, and learn quickly.”