CONTE: WE MUST BEAT SPURS
He has redefined the way the game is played in the Premier League, with the Etihad side holding a 16-point lead and on the brink of clinching the title in his second season in charge.
City are also among the favourites to win the Champions League under two-time winner Guardiola and face Liverpool on Wednesday in the first leg of their all-premier League quarter-final tie.
Guardiola travelled to Buenos Aires during the international break, where he met with
Cesar Luis
Menotti, the
World Cupwinning coach with Argentina in 1978 (right) and a fellow former Barcelona manager.
And Menotti likened Guardiola’s impact on football to that of political activist Che Guevara (left), who played a key role in the Cuban Revolution and whose iconic image has become a ANTONIO CONTE admits claiming a top-four place will be “difficult” if Chelsea fail to beat Tottenham.
The Blues host Spurs on Sunday, five points behind the north Londoners with time and games running out to claw their way into the Champions League places. global symbol of change. “I think Pep is the Che Guevara of football,” said Menotti. “I always said that a revolutionary wins or dies in the fight and Pep’s idea remains unwavering.
“He’s never going to change it – he wants to play well, he wants to own the space and he wants command of the ball. And he wants to handle the time, to stay ahead of the curve. “He’s a coach with a clear image and he’s been revolutionary in the fact that he’s even been copied in Italy.
“Since the success of Barcelona, the idea of the ‘libero’ and the ‘stopper’ has changed.
“That was achieved with Pep’s success with Barca, which was backed up with Bayern Munich and is now Boss Conte said: “For sure, this is an important game for us. Our target for this final stretch of the season is to take a place in the Champions League and reach the final of the FA Cup and, this season, try and win it, if we are able to win against Southampton in the semi-final.
“If we win on Sunday, we being even further enhanced with Manchester City.
“That’s why I say he’s the Che Guevara. Win or die. It’s incredible that a coach wins in Catalonia, in Spain, is champion in Germany and then wins again in England.”
Menotti, 79, revealed how Guardiola expressed his concern over the impact of go very close to Tottenham. Otherwise, we continue to stay not so close and, with seven games to go, it will be difficult to take a place in the Champions League. Nothing is impossible.
“We have to try to win every game and not drop points.”
Conte (right) is sweating on the amount of games in England and the burden it puts on his players – both mentally and physically.
“Now, he’s very focused on what’s going on in England,” added Menotti. “We didn’t speak much about individual players as he’s worried about the amount of games there are, that City have to play an the fitness of goalkeeper Thibaut Courtois and defender Andreas Christensen, labelling them “two big problems”.
Courtois returned to Chelsea from the Belgium camp with a hamstring injury. Christensen was sent back to the Blues by Denmark due to fatigue.