Pep is not taking Villa for granted
HAVING won 29 trophies as a manager, many of them bigger than the Carabao Cup, one could forgive Pep Guardiola for being blasé about the challenge of facing Aston Villa at Wembley today. Not a bit of it. If anything, Wednesday night’s fantastic Champions League victory away to Real Madrid has wound up the Spaniard even more.
Guardiola is fretting about a post-Bernabeu ‘adrenaline drop’ giving underdogs Villa an advantage. He dismisses the idea of trying to repeat May’s 6-0 FA Cup Final thrashing of Watford when a scrappy 1-0 win would do exactly the same job.
He is adamant that lifting trophies mean even more to him now than when they appeared to fall off the tree in his early days at Barcelona.
‘The first ones are special because you don’t know if you are able to do it. There is that excitement. But now you realise how difficult it is, so there is much more personal satisfaction than before,’ he explains.
‘Every time winning a competition looks more and more difficult. That is the feeling I have right now.’
This insatiable appetite for success marks out Guardiola as different to other managers who don’t take the League Cup as seriously.
It’s worth noting that Raheem Sterling and Gabriel Jesus were among the scorers in their first tie in the competition at Preston.
Now they are within 90 minutes of a hat-trick of Carabao triumphs and Guardiola is talking up the challenge of Dean Smith’s Villa as if he were facing Zinedine Zidane’s Galacticos again.
‘I am only preparing to try to win, never thinking by how many. It would be a lack of respect,’ he says.
‘Aston Villa have had all week to prepare for this game. We had a mentally tough and demanding game against Madrid. There is naturally a drop of adrenaline in your mind and body afterwards.’
Fortunately, Guardiola can call upon the relatively fresh Sergio Aguero, Sterling, David Silva and Fernandinho, none of whom started in Spain.
UEFA are arguing a squad that deep has not been paid for within their rules but, discounting finances, football fans can only be impressed by the way the City juggernaut keeps going.
They won a unique domestic Treble and the Community Shield last season. Today could be the first of another three major trophies this term, even though the league title is heading to Liverpool.
Yet Guardiola, who has known only success at Barcelona, Bayern Munich at Manchester City, speaks like someone who is still expecting to be slaughtered if an upset happens at Wembley.
‘All managers at big clubs feel the same,’ he argues. ‘Everything is extreme compared to when I started. Twitter, Instagram, social media. People have no patience.’
Guardiola won’t be able to call upon his best defender, Aymeric Laporte, who will miss up to a month because of a hamstring injury.
His biggest selection poser is whether to start again with Kevin de Bruyne, who has been in superlative form after having had time off last season.
Guardiola thinks De Bruyne is such an imaginative player, the biggest challenge for a coach is asking him to keep things uncomplicated at times.
‘I asked Kevin what he felt before his penalty against Real Madrid and he just said “that I’m going to score”. He doesn’t feel much pressure.
‘He is exceptional. I tell him not to forget to do the simple things properly.’
It’s hard to think the Premier League will see anyone like Guardiola again. Someone who is treats England’s junior cup competition against relegationthreatened opponents with the passion of Messi or Ronaldo in El Clasico.