City will give Liverpool guard of honour: Guardiola
Manchester City will give newly-crowned Premier League champions Liverpool a guard of honour when the teams meet at the Etihad Stadium on Thursday, manager Pep Guardiola has said.
Liverpool ended their 30-year wait for a top-flight title when last season’s champions City were beaten 2-1 by Chelsea last week, handing the Merseyside club an unassailable 23-point lead at the top of the table.
Liverpool’s first match since being confirmed as champions is at City’s stadium and Guardiola said his players would pay tribute to Jurgen Klopp’s titlewinning side.
“We are going to do the guard of honour of course,” Guardiola said. “We will greet Liverpool, when they come to our house, in an incredible way. We are going to do it because they deserve it.”
The 49-year-old added that he was already looking forward to helping City come back stronger next season.
“In sport you have to live in the future,” Guardiola said. “Never can you have one eye on what you have done. Never forget that we are an incredible club and organisation and what you have to do is learn.
“I think we know the reason why we suffered this season and we are going to try to solve it for next season.”
LIVERPOOL MUST STAY HUNGRY: MILNER
Liverpool cannot afford to get carried away by their Premier League triumph and must remain hungry for success if they are to compete with nearest rivals Manchester City next season, according to experienced midfielder James Milner.
Liverpool’s 30-year wait for their 19th English top-flight title ended on Thursday when two-times defending champions City lost to Chelsea, giving Juergen Klopp’s side an unassailable 23-point lead with seven games left.
Englishman Milner, who won two Premier League titles with City before joining Liverpool in 2015, expects a strong response from Pep Guardiola’s team.
“You see how difficult it is for any team to defend the title,” Milner, 34, told the Times.
“City managed it last season.. but they tried twice before and failed.
“The two times I was there in seasons after winning titles we were never at the races... That’s something I’ve learnt from.
“This Liverpool team has shown we can deal with disappointment. Can we now show that we can deal with success? Being as good next year as we’ve been this year won’t be enough, City will raise their game and so will other clubs.”