Pep’s out to show Jorginho what he’s missing

ONE of Maurizio Sarri’s first acts in English football was to offer an explanation to Pep Guardiola in the Wembley tunnel. Minutes after losing the Community Shield in August, the Chelsea manager went to Manchester City’s dressing room and asked for a quick word. Sarri started clarifying how Chelsea had snatched Jorginho for £57million, in a move that angered the Premier League champions at the end of a lengthy transfer saga. City largely blamed Napoli, but Sarri, mindful of his blossoming relationship with Guardiola, felt he owed an apology. He was told it was not necessary. ‘The job Maurizio has done so far is excellent — people don’t know how difficult it is to play in a special way,’ Guardiola said yesterday. ‘We play five hypothetically strong teams in the Premier League and tomorrow is the last one away, apart from Manchester United, and our behaviour was good.’ Guardiola has only won once in west London and his job is made harder this evening by the continued absence of Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne. The City manager is toying with starting Raheem Sterling as a central striker, in part to counter Jorginho. ‘You have to commit,’ Guardiola said. ‘When they come, they push up. You have to read where our men are free and where the spaces are. I like this way because Chelsea try to win.’ The 1-0 victory there last season proved a catalyst for City and Guardiola added: ‘The target is to try to do it again. In these sort of games, of course we want to win, but I’m more focused on our behaviour; how we are as a team on those sort of stages. That’s what I want to see.’ Guardiola insisted that City will not face a Champions League ban for alleged Financial Fair Play breaches. UEFA president Aleksander Ceferin confirmed this week there is a ‘concrete case’ being investigated and sources revealed a suspension from European competition could follow. But Guardiola maintained he has been given assurances by chairman Khaldoon Al Mubarak and chief executive Ferran Soriano that no suspension will happen. ‘We will not be banned, no,’ Guardiola said. ‘I have trust in my chairman, in my CEO, what they have explained to me.’