We’ll put trust in City way of playing
It would be mistake to change
intensity of the occasion and atmosphere to get to them at Anfield in January when they conceded three goals in a nine-minute spell and crashed to their only Premier League defeat this season.
But even though Sergio Aguero’s injury-enforced absence means Guardiola will field a youthful forward line of Gabriel Jesus, 21 yesterday, Leroy Sane, 22, and former Liverpool player Raheem Sterling, 23, he insists his team will not be fazed at a venue where City have won only once in 37 years.
Guardiola will not change his total football approach and be more cautious. “Liverpool will show what their history is,” he said.
“They have won it five times, we have had one semi-final. We accept that.
“The big challenge is to try to play the way we play. It depends if you are able to overcome this situation knowing the opponent is one of the toughest in the world.
“If I said we are going to play differently, the players would look at me and say, ‘This guy is scary!’. It would be that we don’t trust in ourselves. It would be a big mistake.”
Aguero’s continued absence with a knee injury – he is also a doubt for Saturday’s Manchester derby – is a blow but Guardiola is convinced his youthful trio of raiders – Jesus, Sane and Sterling – can fill the void. “We are so happy with those three guys,” he said.
“You need experience to be better. You need to live these situations and they are young.
“Gabriel has never played in the quarter-finals and it will be the first time he has played at Anfield.
“Why should I doubt them? I’ve seen 32-year-old players more scared than those three. It depends on the mentality of the players and they are so good in that respect.
“We’ll try to learn from our mistakes from that game in January but also remember the good things we did.” While City were coming to terms with the absence of leading scorer Aguero, Liverpool received a triple injury blow. Central defender Joel Matip is out for the season while midfielders Adam Lallana and Emre Can will be missing tonight.
Meanwhile Everton have granted City permission to train at Goodison Park this morning but Manchester United have refused a request from Liverpool to train at The Cliff, their old training ground, on the morning of next Tuesday’s second leg at the Etihad.
A United spokesman said the Cliff – which is used to train youngsters – is not available on that morning. Liverpool did not ask to use United’s current training ground at Carrington or Old Trafford.