Daily Mirror (Northern Ireland)
EVERY GAME IS A FINAL FOR US
Guardiola tells his players how much is at stake whenever they play
PEP GUARDIOLA says every game is now a final for Manchester City – as they resume their quest for an unprecedented Quadruple.
City travel to third-placed Leicester today, needing four wins and a draw from their final eight games to secure a third Premier League title in four years.
Guardiola’s side face Borussia Dortmund in the
Champions League quarter-finals on Tuesday, Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-finals on April 17 and Tottenham in the EFL Cup final eight days later.
No team in England has managed a clean sweep of all four trophies and Guardiola has told his City players how much is at stake in every game from now until the end of the season.
“Leicester are a top-class team,” said Guardiola.
“They can beat us. But we’ll be closer to winning the title if we win and then every game after that is a final.
“The team will feel that and we’re ready to try it.
“People say we’re close. We’re in the best position. But Manchester United and Leicester can still win a lot of games. Everything in football can happen.
“We need more than four wins to be champions and Leicester is the first one, so we’ll try.
“After that game, I’ll think about the Borussia
Dortmund tie.” Guardiola admitted it was tough telling City’s all-time leading goalscorer, Sergio Aguero, that he would not be offered a new contract when his expires at the end of the season.
Aguero has scored 257 goals in 10 seasons at City, including the iconic dramatic late strike to clinch the club’s first Premier League title in 2012, but has spent much of this term a hostage to injury.
Guardiola said: “Of course it was difficult. But I had to make a decision, we have to make decisions.
“It wasn’t easy but it wasn’t hard. I want to have a good relationship with Sergio and I was honest with what we decided – the best thing for the future of the club, simple.
“We have two months and since then, in the two training sessions, he’s trained incredibly well and he’s going to help us between now and the end of the season.” LINE-UPS: