Champions League title would not change City’s legacy, says Guardiola
Win over the Spanish giants would put Guardiola’s men in prime position to become just the second side ever to win the treble of Premier League, Champions League and FA Cup in the same season
Treble-chasing Manchester City may be on a quest for their first Champions League title but manager Pep Guardiola said claiming the trophy will not define his team’s legacy or his own.
“My legacy, our legacy is exceptional already,” Guardiola told a press conference on Tuesday, with a smile.”
City host holders Real Madrid in the second leg of their semi-final on Wednesday, following a 1-1 draw a week ago at the Bernabeu when Kevin De Bruyne scored a sumptuous long-range equaliser ater Vinicius Jr’s equally brilliant first-half goal.
Guardiola guided Barcelona to Champions League titles in 2009 and 2011 and, while his City side have won the Premier League in four of the last five years — and could claim a fith on Sunday — Europe’s elite club competition remains elusive. City are potentially four wins away from a treble as they play Manchester United in the FA Cup final on June 3.
“My legacy maybe could have a book about it one day,” he said in Spanish. “Legacy is we’ve had a great time, played great football. The best legacy you can have is you performed well and played well.”
To that end, the 52-year-old Guardiola has told his players to soak in the thrill of the moment on Wednesday rather than get hung up on the magnitude of the occasion.
“We know how important it is tomorrow, maybe one of the most important ones. We can’t deny that,” Guardiola said.
“But I said to the players enjoy the moment, how fortunate we are, how incredibly lucky we are to be here... We’ll do everything, give everything.”
Guardiola said his team must play “much better” than the Madrid game, he would like his team to be more fluid in atack. City lost to Chelsea in their lone appearance in the Champions League final in 2021, which defender Kyle Walker called a big learning moment for the team. Whatwouldachampionsleaguetrophymean? “We have to just look over the road at Manchester United and what they’ve accomplished over the years,” he said. “And when you get compared to that team, they’ve won countless titles. United have won the European Cup three times plus 20 English top-flight titles and in 1999 won an historic treble of Champions League, Premier League and FA Cup.
“(Our) club’s missing that one (Champions League), and I think for the owners, the amount of money that they’ve pumped into this club, the investment, we owe that to them,” added Walker.
Abu Dhabi-based City Football Group owns the club. “To get to the Champions League final against Chelsea and probably not performing as well as we do, we owe that to ourselves as well, to get some revenge for ourselves. But we’ve got a tough, tough opponent coming (Wednesday) to try and get past it to get to the final.”
Real Madrid have won the European Cup a record 14 times. “As we’ve just seen before in recent years, it’s a final, anything to happen,” Walker said.
real clash with city a meeting of europe’s best, says ancelotti: Real boss Carlo Anceloti believes the two best teams in Europe will go head-to-head for a place in the final.
“Madrid and City are in this moment the best teams in Europe and for sure it will be an exciting game, like it was in the first leg,” said Anceloti at his pre-match press conference on Tuesday.
Madrid’s squad is filled with Champions League winners as the 14-times champions have conquered Europe five times in the last nine seasons.
“We have played a lot of these games - semifinals, finals,” said Madrid midfielder Luka Modric.
“We have confidence and calmness because we believe in our character and our qualities and that’s what I see day in, day out.”
Anceloti has a fully-fit squad to choose from atereduardocamavingarecoveredfromtheinjury that forced him off against Getafe on Saturday.
And the Italian clarified comments he made at the weekend that seemed to suggest Antonio Rudiger will definitely start ater he kept City’s 52goal striker Haaland quiet in the first leg.
Rudiger has tended to play reserve to Eder Militao and David Alaba at centre-back this season, but started last week’s clash with Militao suspended. The Brazilian is now back and Anceloti refused to confirm who would start at the heart of his defence.