Pep: My team are not fragile

PEP GUARDIOLA came out swinging in defence of his players by rejecting Ilkay Gundogan’s claim that Manchester City are mentally fragile in big matches. Gundogan offered an honest appraisal following Tuesday’s 1-0 Champions League defeat at Tottenham, suggesting City are nervous in such matches and not brave enough. But, ahead of tomorrow’s crunch trip to Crystal Palace, Guardiola rejected the claims. ‘I don’t think I agree with him. He can say whatever he wants,’ Guardiola said. ‘It has happened many times in my career in specific games when they lost a little control. But regarding this specific game, it did not happen.’ The City manager, who hopes Bernardo Silva and Aleks Zinchenko will be fit for Palace, is eyeing a spot in the last four ahead of the return leg on Wednesday. ‘Tottenham were stronger than us because we had two days’ rest, they had six. ‘We decided to play a different type of game. Now we have the second leg with our fans at home and we’ll go for the semi-finals,’ he said.