Guardiola on City's UCL trip to Slovan Bratislava
30/09/2024
uefa24
Národný futbalový štadión, Bratislava
30/09/2024
uefa24
Národný futbalový štadión, Bratislava
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SportsTranscript
00:00Good evening, guys, hope you're well.
00:26We will take questions in English first, please,
00:28and then anything in Slovakian after that.
00:30If there's somewhere to start, please, I think there are mics here,
00:34just here at the front, please.
00:39Hi, Pep, you've brought 19 players with you, but still no Kevin De Bruyne,
00:43is he anywhere close?
00:44I don't know, I don't know, no.
00:47Fulham or after international break, hopefully it will be fine.
00:51It's been such a busy two or three weeks for you, Pep,
00:54are there some players who might be needing a rest,
00:57or you're not really looking forward to resting?
00:59Everybody is ready, we're going to nail up the best team as possible
01:06to compete and beat them.
01:11The Slovak manager compared you to Gaudi before.
01:21Two geniuses, he says.
01:23No glass of wine, my colleague, right?
01:25Before this, you know.
01:28I just wonder, because obviously a lot of managers will praise you before and after matches,
01:34how difficult is that for you to take, I suppose?
01:41I handle it really well, so I appreciate it a lot,
01:46but I know how this business is, and I'm a scary person, so I have doubts,
01:56so I think a lot, sometimes overthink,
02:02and I know that I've been in a fantastic club with the top players,
02:08but from Catalonia, Gaudi is maybe the greatest, or one of the greatest,
02:17so that's why, what can I say, thank you so much for the compliment.
02:21What's your favourite piece of Gaudi work?
02:25When I say we are finishing the Cerrada Familia, it's still not done,
02:30but when you're there in this temple, you realise that in that time,
02:35without 3Ds, without all the technology,
02:38this person had the vision to create or think these type of things,
02:44you cannot realise that it's possible, so honestly,
02:48and hopefully in my adorable and lovely country, Catalonia,
02:53sooner or later I can finish it, and all the people around the world,
02:58be it religious or not, can enjoy it.
03:01Do you think you'll ever finish your masterpiece?
03:05Listen, you have to retire right now, I'm more than satisfied,
03:09so I'm so happy I'm still doing my job,
03:13but it's not a fact that I never, never, never thought in my life
03:18I'd live what I've lived these 30, 40 years, and I'm still living.
03:25I'm more than grateful, I cannot ask for anything else.
03:29Hi Pep, Slovane Bratislava, very happy to host you,
03:34Champions League is obviously a very special competition for you
03:37and for City after a few years ago,
03:39do you still love coming to different countries and different venues to play?
03:45I want to say something honest with the press conference,
03:48they are going to play a friendly game tomorrow,
03:51so I'm a little bit concerned about that,
03:53in terms of the question of Gaudi, this kind of thing is not...
03:57So it's a competition, we start against an opponent,
04:01this format, new format, I don't know exactly how you handle it,
04:04how many points you need, and maybe you can finish 13 or 14 or 15,
04:10you know, not qualify until first 18, you can win the Champions League.
04:14So at the end it's a competition, it's more that,
04:16OK, perform well and the good things we are doing,
04:19the bad things you have to improve,
04:22and it's what I like the most in my process,
04:24so I love, I adore to watch the game we played before
04:27and see how good things we have done,
04:29very bad, and how we have to improve, talk with the players.
04:32Training is difficult, but some details,
04:34and this is what I still like in my job,
04:38is to see that, oh, still there's a big margin to be better,
04:43in little details and in the concepts,
04:46still we forget a little bit, we have to remember.
04:49And this is what I like, but tomorrow, yes,
04:52of course it's an opportunity to make a step, you know,
04:56and, you know, make the team play better.
05:05Hiya Pep, Phil had a very good season for you last season,
05:08Phil Foden, what does he have to do now to kind of hit those high levels again,
05:13because it's been a bit of a stop-start for him with illness?
05:16See, there is, maybe I can have some doubts in many things,
05:20but the feeling that he's going to be back will be back,
05:22as much as he feels good, he will be back.
05:25I think the 30 minutes play in Champions Park,
05:30I felt already something that I like,
05:33that I didn't see, for example, against Watford.
05:37And we cannot forget, after European,
05:40it had been two months, a month and a half, two months,
05:43or maybe more, without training,
05:45with the problems he had, a little bit with niggles,
05:47and some problems in his health,
05:50and now it's a little bit of smiling,
05:52and a little bit in his rhythm.
05:55So we cannot forget, we have done so far what we have done without him,
05:59the best player of the Premier League this season,
06:00so we need him as a yes, he's an important player for us.
06:06But I don't have any doubts, the way he loves to play football,
06:09and the way he's training, and his passion,
06:12he will be back, and he's going to help us like he helped
06:14since he landed in the first team for Man City.
06:18Hi Pep, Jan-El St. Kaspersky,
06:22Suman Bratislava is for the first time in the Champions League,
06:25so what do you think of them, and maybe their strengths?
06:29Thank you very much.
06:31Well, it's a team like, I would say,
06:37he plays with some courage.
06:42So I saw the game against Celtic Glasgow,
06:45the result was good, but in certain moments
06:47they are not too scared to play, to do proper things.
06:49I don't know, if tomorrow we're going to play with four in the back,
06:52like we always play, last season against Leeds,
06:54play five in the back, we were a little bit more cautious.
06:58But they're not scared to play, to do it,
07:00they link really good with the strikers,
07:02and they want to try it, but of course,
07:06Champions League even, it doesn't matter,
07:08but it always is a little bit, you know,
07:12I have incredible respect for my experience
07:14for all away teams, all the teams,
07:16especially when you play away.
07:17So hopefully we can be an aggressive team again,
07:21and take the result that we need.
07:27Hello coach, my name is Martin,
07:29I am from the Slovak Nationwide newspaper,
07:31and maybe more broadly,
07:34what is the most precious lesson you have learned
07:37being a professional manager,
07:38and working at these elite clubs,
07:41and maybe coaching these top-level players?
07:45The first question I learned is,
07:46nothing is for granted.
07:49Even the media is going to say how beautiful we are,
07:52not relating to that game,
07:54always you have to do it,
07:56nothing comes for that.
07:58And always I have an incredible, incredible opinion
08:01of my opponents, my colleagues,
08:03and never, never win a game,
08:04like thinking that I'm in Barcelona,
08:07I'm buying money here, this is going to happen.
08:10Always I try to give credit,
08:13and especially for, of course, our opponents.
08:17So, and the second question, sorry?
08:19No, that was fine.
08:21Okay, sorry.
08:21Any questions in Slovak?
08:24Good evening, hello coach.
08:26Just to set everything clear,
08:28Mr. Weiss said that as Gaudi built the Sagrada Familia,
08:34you've been building your team for years,
08:37and now it's like a piece of art.
08:39So just to set everything clear,
08:41and on the other hand,
08:42maybe what can you say about Mr. Weiss' work,
08:46and about the team you are facing tomorrow?
08:50Well, unfortunately we, in England,
08:54we don't have the right to see Slovakia League,
08:58so I'm sorry.
09:00So I saw these two or three days,
09:02especially against Celtic,
09:03and some games in the league,
09:05like okay, they are a better, better team.
09:08So, and this format is weird,
09:12because now we play here,
09:13and normally, okay, in a few weeks,
09:15they come to Manchester, we play there.
09:16No, it's this game, and it's over.
09:19So, and I like, you know,
09:21I've not been here before,
09:22and come here in this country.
09:24So, honestly, I prefer when you play in this kind of country,
09:29that you are used to,
09:31I prefer to play away, to travel and see it.
09:34And, but I have a huge, huge, huge respect for them.
09:38They are going to try to analyze what they do,
09:40the patterns that they do,
09:42and try to impose on our game.
09:47Good evening, coach.
09:48Martin Geigel, Slovakia Radio.
09:50My question is simple.
09:52What comes to your mind, if anything,
09:53when you hear about Slovakia or Slovakian football?
09:59I'll be honest, not much, for the fact that
10:03I remember it was an incredible football player
10:07that passed away in an accident, Peter Dubowski.
10:11And today, with Juanma, we're talking about him,
10:14because Juanma Lillo was his player.
10:17And I almost cried remembering him,
10:19because he's a lovely person,
10:20and his sadness for his accident was terrible.
10:25I start to, I would say, you know,
10:27to know a little bit this country, you know,
10:30through the athletes or the players that I've done.
10:32I've never been here for a tourist,
10:33or something like that, maybe in the future.
10:36But it's an opportunity to know some players.
10:38Always you discover new players and new ideas
10:40for the managers when you look at them.
10:42And of course, they are a strength,
10:44but they are weaknesses, like we are, we have.
10:47And try to, you know, to strengthen our strength
10:51as a team, to punish them.
10:53At the end, I would say it's a football game,
10:55and it's a massively important three-point for us.
11:01OK.
11:02Oh, just one final one here, please.
11:07Hello, coach.
11:08Do you think that this game is a bit tough
11:12for a big favourite when he's facing the underdog?
11:18Because the underdog has nothing to lose.
11:23Yeah, I have to admit it.
11:24When you win four Premier Leagues in a row,
11:27the toughest, or one of the toughest leagues in the world,
11:31and Champions League winner two seasons ago,
11:35and of course, most of the times when we were favourites,
11:39we accepted, so that is not a big deal.
11:42But I know perfectly, when I came from Barcelona by Munich,
11:44it happened quite often as well in that period.
11:47Yeah, it's fine, and didn't give me 2-0
11:50before I started the game.
11:51So, we started 0-0, 11 against 11,
11:54the same conditions, pitch conditions,
11:56weather conditions for everyone.
11:57So, we have to prove we are better.
11:59It's the only certain I have in my job.
12:02So, the rest, I'm not concerned much, to be honest.
12:06Thank you, guys.
12:07Thank you, have a lovely evening.