RAIN & SPAIN
Playing triumph gives Duff hope of upsetting big odds
MICHAEL DUFF saw the genius of Pep Guardiola in the wet and cold of a Manchester night.
The Cheltenham manager was at the Etihad onWednesday to run the rule over today’s FA Cup fourth-round opponents.
He already knew the Robins, without a League Two win in seven games, faced a Herculean task against a City team unbeaten in 16 since November 21.
He did not need to be told by his City-supporting son, Tommy – or the City academy player who rents his house in Manchester.
But Duff wanted to see at first hand what he is up against in the managerial head-to-head.
He said: “I sat five or six rows behind City’s subs, international players each worth, what, £40-50-60million?
“It was 0-0 for 80 minutes, teeming down with rain and obviously the place was empty. These boys have won everything, money’s not motivating them, yet there they were encouraging, cheering, willing their team-mates on.
“To get that sort of togetherness with a galaxy of superstars requires unbelievable leadership skills and management.
“People say Pep only manages the best teams.
Well, there’s a reason for that. He is the best. He takes world-class players and he makes them better.”
Duff drove home the challenge.
“We are the ultimate underdog,” he said. “Beating them would be the biggest upset in cup history.”
But then he thought back to his playing career with Northern Ireland and the night Spain went to Belfast for a Euro 2008 qualifier, the same Spain that would end up winning the tournament, then adding theWorld Cup.
“A look at the teamsheets said we had no chance,” he recalled. “That sizing up
Spain team went on to dominate the world for the next six years, but we beat them.”
Duff knows such upsets require the stars to align. “You need 11 players to play out of their skin,” he said. “You need a lot of luck and you need the opposition to have a real, real off day. “First and foremost we must turn up. We must have a go.And if we hold up our end of the bargain, who knows?”
After all, this is the week semi-professional third division Spanish side Alcoyano had a man sent off and knocked Real Madrid out of the Copa del Rey.
Duff did beat City the last time he met them as a player with Burnley.
“Yeah, true,” he said with a smile. “But I also played against them when we were 3-0 down at home in seven minutes and lost 6-1.
“We know we’re up against the form team in the country, if not the world.”
Sergio Aguero and Kevin De Bruyne will be missing when City arrive at the Jonny-Rocks Stadium and change in the lounge bar, but Duff said: “The way they move the ball it doesn’t really matter who is playing.
“Villa were brilliant against them and still conceded 28 shots. Whoever plays for City it’s the same patterns, same movement. Replace one and it’s just a fresher pair of legs with the same quality.”