‘Be careful!’ Pep issues City warning over Zagreb

PEP Guardiola has told his City players they cannot afford to let this Champions League opportunity slip.

Having beaten Shakhtar Donetsk 3-0 away from home in their opening game, the group favourites now have two matches at the Etihad to build on that early advantage and move closer to qualification for the knockout phases.

However, they run into a Dinamo Zagreb team that have enjoyed a fantastic start to their season and beat Atalanta 4-0 in their opening Champions League fixture.

City players were specifically briefed on the Croatian side for the first time yesterday lunchtime ahead of tonight’s encounter and if Guardiola has good reason to be cautious of their opponents he will also remember the Blues slipping up at home to Lyon on their first home matchday last season in the competition.

The manager knows how well Atalanta have carried their form over from last season, so their 4-0 defeat to Dinamo Zagreb should make the City players even more aware that they cannot afford to be below their best.

“It is an incredibly intense team, so aggressive especially in the middle with long balls to the striker and when they are so strong with the second balls, they have fast players on the counter,” he said.

“It was a warning that they were able to beat Atalanta who last season finished and this season are third not far away from Juventus and Inter Milan with the same manager, doing incredibly well in a tough league.

“That they are able to win 4-0 is a warning to say ‘be careful, guys’.

“We play at home the next two games and have an incredible chance to step forward but we try to discover what we do because the players don’t know them.

“We are going to introduce to the team what Dinamo Zagreb are about as a team.”