Guardiola shifts focus away from Haaland; makes vow on Man City approach

Pep Guardiola TEAMtalk

Pep Guardiola vowed that Manchester City will not go to Borussia Dortmund to defend and shifted the focus away from Erling Haaland.

City travel to face Dortmund on Wednesday with the Champions League quarter-final tie hanging in the balance. Guardiola’s men have the advantage with a 2-1 lead but Dortmund crucially got an away goal. Therefore, there is still work to do for City to reach the semi-finals, where they could face either Bayern Munich or Paris Saint-Germain.

Since the first leg, City suffered a setback in the Premier League when they surprisingly lost to Leeds United. They remain on course to win the league but will be looking for an instant response.

City have struggled to get beyond the quarter-final stage in recent years but now have a good chance to do so. Rather than viewing it as a test of their mentality, though, Guardiola described it as a source of excitement.

“I would say is a pleasure to be here again,” he said. “Next season we have already qualified for the Champions League again.

“Pleasure to be here, we train, fly tomorrow, focus to do a good game. We are looking forward.

“Many things can happen, nothing is guaranteed. We had a good result, we don’t defend, everything to win.”

With the tie delicately poised, there could be plenty of twists and turns. But Guardiola reiterated the focus is on one simple task rather than worrying about the different permutations.

“If you think of the consequences or goals you have to score or concede, you forget what you have to do,” he said. “You focus on what you have to do in the game, the plan we have to execute it.

“After the quality of players will do the rest. Will be better they don’t score and we win, but in the Champions League you always have a chance.

“We have weapons to score, they have weapons to score. We go there, we aren’t going to defend anything we won here, control their quality, try to win the game.”

Pep Guardiola: Defeat is sometimes necessary

Pep Guardiola: Defeat is sometimes necessary

Pep Guardiola says 'defeat is sometimes necessary to appreciate what we have done' following Manchester City's 2-1 loss against 10-man Leeds at The Etihad.

Just as in the first leg, the key opponent for City to watch out for will be Erling Haaland. Guardiola has already played down transfer links to the striker but will be all too aware of his danger.

Even so, he refuses to pin too much focus on a single player, no matter how good he is.

“We analyse Dortmund as a team, not just one player,” Guardiola said. “We knew his quality.


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“We try to do what we have done many times, to win the game. We won the first, we go to try and win. I don’t know what will happen, but we go to win.”

The trip to Dortmund would have been more daunting if any fans were present. The Bundesliga club are famous for the Yellow Wall their supporters form in one of their stands.

However, Guardiola denies that the lack of fans in attendance will make a difference.

“I don’t know, a long time we play without spectators,” he said. “Would be easier here to play with fans. We are used to playing without spectators.”

Guardiola trusts Man City players

Guardiola also brushed off a question about his confidence in his players ahead of a step up in intensity for the final few weeks of the season.

“After 27 victories in 29 games if I don’t trust the players we have a big problem,” he said. “I would be crazy.

“Tomorrow we can win or lose. What we have done so far, we deserve to be where we are now. We know if we win we go through or lose we are out.

“In the Premier League we need three wins and a draw to be champion because we expect [Manchester] United to win seven in a row. If we go out we will be disappointed but we have another chance, life is like this. If you fight you get another opportunity.

“We are going to try. We lose against Lyon, we were better, we are out. We are fighting for four competitions, especially the Premier League.

“We are already qualified for the Champions League, 11 years in a row, never happened before. That is fantastic. Now is the time for another step.

“The players want it. They were sad when we didn’t get to the semi-finals but nobody will give it to us, we have to do it. Nobody gives you the semi-finals, we have to do it in 95 minutes if we don’t do mistakes like against Lyon when we give them three goals.

“I’m so excited to travel to Germany, to try to do it.”

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