Pep Guardiola calls on City to replicate Newcastle win and turn around Madrid UCL deficit
16/02/2025 ebargoed from 15/02/2025
Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Uk
16/02/2025 ebargoed from 15/02/2025
Etihad Stadium, Manchester, Uk
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SportsTranscript
00:00Hi Pep, was that the sort of performance that you needed ahead of Wednesday night
00:03to sort of give you a confidence going to Madrid?
00:07Listen, there are many, many games that we wanted not playing the level we play
00:11and at the end we lost it.
00:12And that was not just the three points, it's how it affected our minds for the next game.
00:16It happened a lot, a lot of times.
00:18Of course, the victory helped us, but listen, the margin to win in Bernabeu
00:22in that position, everybody knows that if you ask before the game
00:26the percentage to go through, I don't know, we arrive at 1% or I don't know what you mean.
00:31But as much as you have a chance, we will try.
00:35That's for sure, you know, you know.
00:40So we are going like always, we are done.
00:42But this isn't the reality.
00:44We have been miles and miles away to.
00:47If you tell me, if you outperform like today,
00:50we'll finish 22 in the Champions League.
00:52Of course not, we have finished higher.
00:56But the reality, we have been really, really poor in performance in the results this season.
01:00And just for one game that today played really good.
01:03And there's no going to change the opinion, the reality, the team it is right now.
01:08And we are still not good in terms of day by day being that.
01:13But of course, it's better to travel to Madrid with this result.
01:17I imagine the defeat in the last minutes of the defeat.
01:20So at the end, OK, the chance is minor because the result was not good five minutes ago.
01:28With 2-1 it will be different, but with 2-3, the chances is.
01:32But as much as you have a chance, we are going to take it.
01:35And we'll see what happens.
01:37Richard.
01:38Hi Pep, just going back to Nico Gonzalez, a couple of things.
01:42Do you think he's at his best as a six or as an eight?
01:46And also just with the way some of his teammates played today,
01:49do you think people like Ilkay...
01:51I think he can play in both positions.
01:53In Barcelona, he played more number eight.
01:55That means he's a guy who's right to the box, ability to dribble.
01:58But when he arrived, we met each other.
02:00You forget about it to play in that position.
02:02You have to mentally prepare to play there in front of the central defenders.
02:06But the role that Gundo has done in the travel year and the quadruple,
02:09that can be an attacking midfielder, holding midfielder, this double position.
02:15He can do it perfectly.
02:16He can do it with Rodri, that shape to go forward and back.
02:20He can help us.
02:21And do you think that some of his teammates benefited from having him there?
02:25Absolutely.
02:26Do you think it's the way he can play today?
02:28Absolutely.
02:30So you tell me, why do they play good?
02:32For many reasons.
02:32It's not because just Mamuch, you know, the highlights, that he deserved it.
02:36I think because Nico was there.
02:37And Nico, because maybe Gusanov was there.
02:39Or maybe the best, John, is there.
02:41You know, maybe with the passes from Eddie was there.
02:45It's always one of the highlights for that player to play bad or that player to play good.
02:48And everything is connected.
02:50You know, our high pressing was good and our movement for the full-backs was good.
02:55And this is what we try to do.
02:57One each for Paul and Joe, please.
02:58Paul?
03:00Just on Nathan Ake and Ruben Dias, they were here today, but not in the squad.
03:05Will they have a chance for Wednesday?
03:07I hope so.
03:09They were not good.
03:11Ruben said, I'm not ready to play.
03:1390 minutes, maybe 50-20.
03:15But having Victor on the bench, I wouldn't risk it.
03:18And Nathan had a sick and problems after the game against Madrid.
03:22So both, they were not ready to play.
03:25Joe?
03:26Following on from that, Gusanov played very well and much better than his last experience here against Chelsea.
03:35Yeah, he was whistled two or three times.
03:37He's so aggressive in the one-against-one.
03:39But apparently it's just his fault with him.
03:44When our central defender was prestigious, that would not be a fault.
03:47But the player ran.
03:48So I think he will...
03:52It was not easy, right?
03:53The first day against Chelsea, everybody, you know that.
03:55What happened in the minutes is not easy for Uzbekistan or France to come here.
04:00And since then, they didn't play.
04:01Do they play again for the circumstances of Ruben?
04:05Manuel Kanji and Nathan and so on should play.
04:09And it's really good for him, for all of us.
04:12The potential that we visualise they can have.
04:14He's a composer with the ball.
04:16And he's so extremely fast.
04:20The back won't have to run with his act.
04:22He can handle it.
04:23He's so fast.
04:24The decision-making has to improve.
04:26But it's a question of age.
04:28But the most important, he settled really, really, really.
04:30So shy, don't talk much.
04:32And so like this.
04:34And I think it will help us a lot.
04:37He settled really good with the team.
04:38And the same is like Nico.
04:40They are so young, like Victor.
04:41They are so young.
04:42And for the next, you know, years, we have players that Manchester City can develop and perform well.
04:49Thank you, guys.