A SPENT FORCE
PEP GUARDIOLA has told his players to banish thoughts of the Bernabeu and put Aston Villa to the sword.
The Premier League champions face Villa at Wembley tomorrow full of confidence after their stunning 2-1 triumph at Real Madrid in the Champions League.
City will now turn their attention to Villa and the chance to make it a hat-trick of wins in the cup.
Guardiola said: “I just know how difficult it is to reach the final. We've done really well to reach it, playing every three or four days, it's a great achievement to get there, but now we must try to win. The result (in
Madrid) has gone and now we focus on the final. For us, it's much better to go to play a final after a good result in Madrid. But we can't go into the final thinking about that.
“We prepare tactically and know we have an incredible challenge to win the next title
– to win six in a row, it's a big opportunity to do something special for our club.
“Since the first one [Carabao Cup] we played in, we've played in 11 competitions and, if we win, it will be the eighth that we have won. That's incredible. It would be six (trophies including the Charity Shield) in a row, there are no words to express my gratitude because it's so difficult to do that, to maintain that. It's massive to do that.”
City will have to overcome Villa without Aymeric Laporte, who broke down with a hamstring issue in Spain and could be sidelined for up to a month.
The Frenchman has already missed almost five months of the season with damaged knee ligaments.
Guardiola said: “It's a hamstring injury. I don't know if it will be three weeks or one month more or less.
“It's tough, I imagine. He will have to overcome it, life is not easy.”
This will be the first meeting between Villa and City at Wembley and only their second at a neutral venue. City won 6-1 at Huddersfield in the 1933-34 FA Cup semi-final.
City striker Sergio Aguero has scored nine goals in his past five starts against Villa, all in the Premier League.
Villa have had 12 different scorers (excluding own-goals) in the League Cup this season, four more than any other side.
City’s Raheem Sterling has been directly involved in nine goals in his past five outings at Wembley for club and country, scoring seven goals and assisting two more.