PEP: MY LOYAL FAMILY
Guardiola insists last season’s backing paved way for glory
PEP GUARDIOLA claims Sheikh Mansour helped lay the foundations for Manchester City’s success this season by standing by him last year.
City fly to their owner’s Abu Dhabi home after tonight’s game and Guardiola has transformed the Blues’ fortunes since his last visit a year ago when his debut campaign was disintegrating.
That visit came just before City’s chastening Champions League defeat to Monaco, one of the low points of the Spaniard’s hugely disappointing first season.
Despite that, Sheikh Mansour and chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak gave Guardiola their full support and made plans for this season with him.
He is grateful for their backing and is poised to repay them by adding the Premier League to the League Cup. “The relationship is good, especially with Khaldoon,” said the City boss.
“It’s easy to say now it’s going well because the club is doing good, but it happened the same last season. That means a lot to me.
“In the bad moments I saw how the club reacted and supported me and when I wanted to talk about plans for the future, they were there.
“We had doubts because we didn’t win, but not doubts about what we had to do.
“That was so important last season. I will not forget that. Now it’s easy to be supportive, but last season was the key moment.”
City need just four more wins to be crowned champions in record-breaking time and David Silva has been key to their phenomenal campaign.
Silva returns tonight at Stoke after being give time off to visit his wife and premature-born son at the family home in Valencia last week and Guardiola paid tribute to his character.
The little magician has not let his personal anguish affect his displays and he was outstanding in City’s win over Chelsea on his last appearance.
“The family is the most important thing,” said the Catalan. “He wants to be here, but sometimes he needs to go back and see his son and his wife. For the game against Basel, he had permission to go to Valencia.
“He came back on Thursday and he will be ready to play against Stoke. When we go to Abu Dhabi, he will go to Spain.
“His son is the most important thing. Hopefully he will grow and grow.
“He’s been one of the best players in England for a long time now, always playing at a high level.
“He’s a huge competitor. He doesn’t speak too much, but on the pitch, the moment the game is on, wow!
“Especially in the bad conditions, he never hides, he steps forward, and that is so important.”