Pep Guardiola: The Champions League's future is already determined
In the round of 16, Man City will play RB Leipzig; two-time champion Guardiola claims that for his detractors, "nothing will be enough," yet he is "grateful" for what he has accomplished; Spanish player addresses criticism of Erling Haaland from Thierry Henry and clarifies Bernardo Silva's position as left back.
The Spaniard is happy to enjoy the "privilege" of competing in Europe's elite club competition. "I don't know how far we'll go but already being here at this stage and to qualify last season to be here… Every season it is more and more difficult just to qualify for the Champions League next season. City were runners-up in 2020/21 but Guardiola says nothing he achieves in the competition "will be enough" for his critics.
The dream is to go forward and do a good game [against Leipzig] and go to the quarter-finals."If my career finished tomorrow because I can't be a manager, I was more than blessed and grateful for what I've done with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and here [at City] in European competition."I couldn't expect to have the career I've had. "So that's why when I learned that in Manchester City, just have fun, enjoy being here in this press conference, afterwards have a good dinner with good wine, watch Real Madrid and Liverpool, a little bit of Napoli… it's always a pleasure to watch. Prepare for the game, motivate the players, 'let's go guys and try to do it again'. And that's it."
I never thought when I arrived [at City] every year we have to win the Premier League or every year you have to win three or four Champions League. Without Bernardo, Manchester City would concede one counter-attack and one or two actions at the end of the game, says Kevin de Bruyne. De Bruyne: We are the team who scored the most goals in the Premier League. We can do good things with Erling as well! He adds: "I'm not stupid to say Bernardo is not a full-back but he can help us to do the special way we want to play".
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