Guardiola calls on fans to make City feel special
PEP GUARDIOLA says Manchester City are not “special” enough to win the Champions League as he revealed the DNA he was brought up on at Barcelona.
Guardiola has also urged fans to show more support and get behind his team if the ultimate goal is to be achieved.
The City manager remains on a mission to land the biggest prize in club football but believes he is not feeling the backing needed to become a king of Europe again.
Guardiola has not won the Champions League since 2011 when he was Barcelona boss.
He knows the pressure on him to lead City to their ‘Holy Grail’ is building after spending more than £500million on superstar signings since taking charge in 2016.
But Guardiola has taken a veiled swipe at fans and is convinced he is not feeling the desire required from supporters who continue to boo the Champions League anthem and fail to fill the Etihad for European games.
Guardiola, whose side face Shakhtar Donetsk in Kharkiv tonight needing a win to boost their chances of reaching the knockout stages, said: “To win this competition, it’s not enough just to have desire, or wanting to win. You have to have many circumstances.
“You have to have experience and still we don’t have enough in some moments. But every game is a new experience.
“It’s not enough that the manager wants to win it. It’s not just the players. You have to have the desire – the club, chairman, owner, the fans, everyone has to push to be closer, to achieve the next stage.
“When it happens, everyone will feel it. It’s one important thing to win this kind of title but you have to be pushed, not just by the manager, by everyone surrounding Manchester City that we have to win it – and still we don’t have that feeling… the feeling that the fans are pushing, that we have to win the Champions League.
“Normally what happens is you get closer, that’s why I feel we are a really good team, it’s a pleasure to work with them. But in this competition you need something special and still I don’t feel it.”
Guardiola says winning the Champions League is in his blood, (4-5-1) (4-3-3) PYATOV EDERSON BUTKO WALKER RAKITSKIY STONES KRYVTSOV LAPORTE MATVIYENKO ZINCHENKO STEPANENKO FERNANDINHO PATRICK D SILVA MARLOS DE BRUYNE MAYCON STERLING ISMAILLY AGUERO MORAES SANE REF: C Del Cerro (Spa). TV: BT Sport 3. KICK-OFF: 8pm. having been born a few miles from Barcelona, and he will never give up trying to be the best in Europe no matter where he works. He said: “I grew up there. Then when you start to play they inoculate it into your blood and body that the only way to survive is to win.
“But also I learned that when you don’t, life goes on and you have another chance the next season.
“We’ll put more efforts into winning this competition. I saw last season and this that in many ways the club are still not ready to win it. That doesn’t mean we are not going to try. Every year we’ll be closer and sooner or later it’s going to happen.”
And in the quest for Champions League glory, Fernandinho has put club before country, asking not to be picked by Brazil so he can focus on helping City win more silverware. The benefits are clear, with Guardiola describing the midfielder as “extraordinary” in Saturday’s 5-0 demolition of Burnley.
Fernandinho said: “It’s good to hear something like this about you – especially when it comes from Pep.”
In the last international break Fernandinho relaxed in Dubai instead of putting himself through the rigours of more football.
He said: “When you are out of international duty you can forget just a little bit about football, spend more time with your family and clean your mind and your body.”