Guardiola ‘so happy’ as City reach League Cup final with win over Bristol City
Pep Guardiola has put the Premier League at the top of his trophy wish list after Manchester City reached the League Cup final.
Runaway league leaders City will meet Arsenal or Chelsea in the Wembley Stadium final on February 25, the first of four trophies Guardiola’s side could win this season.
“I always say the next one is the most important,” Guardiola said after City’s 3-2 second-leg win at Bristol City on Tuesday night completed a 5-3 aggregate victory over their Championship opponents. “But I like the Premier League a lot, because every single weekend or every three days you have to be ready.
“For me that is more important. The Champions League is the most beautiful, the most prestigious.
“But the Premier League is something special – like it was the La Liga for me or the Bundesliga in Germany.
“After that the FA Cup is important, and now we are in the final of the League Cup we try to win that.
“We are going to prepare now for the next one against Cardiff [in the FA Cup] and that will be completely different to how we prepared for Bristol City, because Cardiff play a lot of long balls.”
City looked as if they would have to settle for an Ashton Gate draw after Marlon Pack and Aden Flint cancelled out goals from Leroy Sane and Sergio Aguero.
But Kevin De Bruyne scored with the last kick of the match, rounding off another impressive display from the Belgian.
De Bruyne’s winner came the day after he had signed a new five-year City deal – and Guardiola could not hide his delight at the news. “You can not imagine [how pleased I am],” Guardiola said.
“It was a terrific week for us, in the past it was David Silva, Nico [Otamendi], Fernandinho, and now it is Kevin.
“These four players are so important for us, it’s massive news for us.
“We are so, so happy.
“I think it’s a highlight for these four players to be involved in our project in the next years.”
Of the performance in Bristol, Guardiola added: “We are so happy to be there, to reach this final. We played an amazing game until 2-0 and then we lost control, these type of games never end until the end.
“This is a lesson for next weekend in Cardiff in the FA Cup and especially for the Champions League.
“At 2-0 we knew it would be easier because they needed three or four goals but with one minute left it was 2-2 and anything could happen.”