We’ll handle the heat
PEP’S TOUGH TALK
PEP GUARDIOLA says Manchester City will handle the pressure at a red-hot Anfield tonight.
City have only won once in front of the Kop in 37 years and are bracing themselves for the ferocious atmosphere which will greet them on Merseyside.
The City boss said: “We’ve had one semi-final, they’ve won five. You have to feel you can do it. If you don’t, it’s no change.
Mountain
“People think how tough it is, but in Barcelona it’s the same.
“In the quarter-finals, it is a mountain. It depends if you are able to overcome this situation, knowing the opponent is one of the toughest in the world.
“The atmosphere is tough but it’s tough at Barcelona or Madrid in a quarter-final. The big challenge is to try to play the way you want to play and convince them this is the best way to play. After it’s a joy to be here. I don’t think what’s going to happen if it’s not going well. In six or seven days we have another game.
“We try to be ourselves, that’s what I want, knowing the opponents are so demanding.”
City have been by far the best team in the league this season and have scored 88 goals.
But Liverpool are one of the few teams in Europe who can match their attacking prowess, with in-form trio Mohamed Salah, Roberto Firmino and Sadio Mane leading their attack.
Guardiola’s side struggled to control Liverpool in their thrilling defeat at the start of 2018, but the City boss has no plans to change his approach.
He added: “Of course I consider the value of Liverpool, of course I know their qualities, and I’m concerned of what they do. I’m not so arrogant a person to think it doesn’t matter what they do, we are good enough. No?
“But if you think we are going to defend for 90 minutes in our box and after make one counter-attack, if you’re talking about that – it’s not going to happen.
“If we defend for 90 minutes it’s because Liverpool are unstoppable. Why should we change when it’s going well so far, when we’ve had good results and they know they can do it but we know sometimes we have to defend?
Mistake
“We try to impose our game. If I said, ‘Guys, we are going to do it completely differently to how we have done it so far’ the players would look at me and say, ‘This guy is scary. The manager doesn’t trust in us’.
“So that would be a big mistake. We cannot forget it’s not one game, it’s 180 minutes.
“What I admire the most from the important teams is that in the bad moments they remain calm, always calm.
“Real Madrid, Barcelona, the opponents are attacking and it looks like they’re taking a cup of coffee because their chance is coming and when the chance comes they say, ‘We’re not going to miss that shot’. That’s the big difference.”