Guardiola quiets talk of four-trophy haul this season
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola yesterday downplayed suggestions his side were targeting the quadruple even as they reached the League Cup semi-finals with a shoot-out victory at Leicester City.
Claudio Bravo saved Riyad Mahrez’s effort in the shootout after Jamie Vardy also missed to hand City a 4-3 win following a 1-1 draw after extra-time.
Vardy had taken the tie to an extra 30 minutes after he scored a stoppage-time spotkick to cancel out Bernardo Silva’s first-half opener.
City are 11 points clear at the top of the Premier League but, after being run close by Leicester, Guardiola dismissed any suggestions they will complete a clean sweep in the league, Uefa Champions League, FA Cup and League Cup.
“That is not going to happen. Of course not,” he said. “Come on, that isn’t real. What we’re living isn’t real.
“That is not going to happen. The situation of winning 16 or 17 games in a row in the league and qualifying for the Champions League before we finished the group stage and now we’re here playing with a lot of young players.
“That is not normal. In football you drop points and you lose competitions.
“I am not thinking about how many titles, I am thinking about the next game.”
City relied on penalties to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers in the last round and were under pressure for long spells of the second half and extra-time after the introduction of Mahrez, Vardy and Demarai Gray.
The trio started on the bench and watched on as the visitors dominated the first half, with only Silva’s 26th-minute goal to show for it. But Leicester levelled in the seventh of eight minutes of time added on at the end when Kyle Walker tangled with Gray and Vardy scored the spot-kick.
“What is important is how we react, so what if it is a penalty or not a penalty,” Guardiola said.
“It was the last minute so it was tough, especially with a lot of young players. At big teams you have to handle the bad moments and have to find situations.
“I said in the locker room to celebrate again. You have to wait to win the title and even in the position we are in you don’t know if we are able to win the Premier League.
“But in the process in the moment you have to celebrate always. We will enjoy it.”
Bravo denied Kelechi Iheanacho and Mahrez in normal time and Leicester manager Claude Puel felt they were unlucky.
“We have had most chances. It was a fantastic game between two good teams,” he said.
“We gave our best. It was important to give a good response after the last league game. I like our positive outlook. No regrets about tonight, we were unlucky with a lot of chances.”