No words to ease pain
A FOCUSED Manchester City will channel the pain of their Champions League semi-final defeat by Real Madrid into Sunday’s home game against Newcastle United, manager Pep Guardiola said on Friday.
The Spaniard told reporters he had not spoken to his players since Real’s astonishing comeback in Wednesday’s second leg in Madrid and nothing he said would be any consolation.
Premier League leaders City were two goals up on aggregate but Real scored in the 90th minute and equalised a minute later before winning in extra time through a Karim Benzema penalty to set up a final against Liverpool in Paris.
Asked what he had said to his players since the defeat, Guardiola replied: “Nothing. We didn’t speak.
“No words can help (for) what all of us feel,” he added. “It is just a question of time, try to sleep as best as possible and think of the new target.”
Guardiola said the league focus remained the same and he would talk to the players on Saturday about who they were as a team, what they had achieved and how well they had played all season.
He said, however, that he did not know whether the current group of players could win the Champions League or whether he was the manager to do it.
“Maybe I’m not good enough to help the team to do it. Nobody knows what would have happened with other players or managers. For us, it is an honour to be there as much as possible in all competitions,” he added.
City are a point clear of Liverpool at the top of the table but could be behind by the time they kick off, with the Reds hosting Tottenham
Hotspur on Saturday.
“They (the players) don’t have to forget it (the Real defeat). How are they going to forget it?,” said Guardiola.
“We are going to play against Newcastle thinking about that, for sure. I know the players in the training sessions, meetings, warm-ups how committed they are going to be, I don’t have any doubt on that.”
Guardiola denied Champions League success was the main focus of City’s owners in Abu Dhabi.