WE MUST SUFFER
Pep: City need to go through pain to see off red-hot Real
PEP GUARDIOLA warned Manchester City they must ‘suffer’ to stop a Karim Benzema-inspired Real Madrid and reach consecutive Champions League finals.
City are attempting to go one better after losing last year’s showpiece against Chelsea. But they must get past La Liga leaders Real first — with Guardiola telling his players to seize the moment.
‘To beat an opponent like Real Madrid, when you’re playing bad, stick together, suffer together for hopefully as few minutes as possible,’ said Guardiola. ‘I said to the players, “Enjoy the moment. You never know, it could be once in a lifetime”.’
City beat Real over two legs in the quarter-finals two years ago but are wary of the threat Benzema poses. The striker has scored 44 goals in 47 games for club and country this season — including a hat-trick against Chelsea in the quarter-final.
‘Benzema has scored a lot of goals — not just against Chelsea but throughout his career,’ said Guardiola. ‘They have fantastic players.’
With several aggressive thuds of the dressingroom door, Manchester City were told they did not belong. ‘F*** you, City. F*** you, Mancini,’ boomed a voice through the Bernabeu walls, emanating from an excitable Jose Mourinho.
Real Madrid had beaten them 3-2 in a group-stage game, coming up for a decade ago. two very late goals as well, from Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema, to escape embarrassment for this competition’s storied institution.
And it really would have been — Mourinho’s outburst not only a tempestuous shot across the bows but also conveying a sense of relief. City were the pretenders, derided for largesse in the transfer market, just playing at tussling with the elite. Not seen as particularly serious by the characters who mattered. the elite were not overly fond of their presence — still aren’t — and ceding any ground to this new money was deemed weak.
Now City head into tonight’s semi-final aiming to reach consecutive finals, and they are favourites — an inescapable fact, despite the two club’s differing legacies in this competition.
‘if we have to compete with history we don’t have any chance — they are better,’ Pep Guardiola said. ‘the history speaks for itself.
But we have the desire to compete against them.
‘tomorrow we play 11 v 11, one ball is on the pitch and the players will decide. We are playing against players who have been in this position many, many times and beyond, reaching finals and winning. they have these kind of things and maybe still we don’t have it but there are other issues and maybe we will have those and they don’t.’
the history is this: Real have lifted Ol’ Big Ears on 13 occasions. City, zero. this is Real’s 31st semifinal. City’s third. Guardiola has previously called Real the kings of Europe and with good reason.
‘i’ve started to expect to be here,’ added Guardiola. ‘At the same time, i’ll never underestimate what we’ve done in being here. Never ever. it’s an honour. to get here two times in a row is so good. there are many, many good teams not here and one year we won’t because it’s so demanding. We have to be so precise.
‘that’s why i said to the players, “Enjoy the moment, prepare for the game”.
‘You never know, it could be once in a lifetime, nobody knows. You must enjoy it and what i want is for us to be ourselves.’
Yesterday, Guardiola cut out the jokes that have become prevalent in his recent media outings. At
this juncture, there is little point feigning tranquillity when everything is on the line.
Full of nervous energy, he gave short shrift to questions about Real’s style, the role of his allegiance to Barcelona and the expected arrival of Erling Haaland. One-line rebuffs rather than one-line zingers.
But he was far clearer, more expansive, on the big picture at City, how a heavy dose of his remit since 2016 has been to create a culture of constantly cementing places in the latter stages of this competition, while mindful that he will be judged on whether he wins the whole lot. Both of those are still live projects, the result of them still not definitive.
‘At the big clubs, when you win, you take a shower and in that moment you are thinking to win again,’ he said. ‘It’s a culture and we are learning that. I felt that in
Barcelona and here we are trying to build that culture where we have to win every game and fight every game. As a manager my mission will never be accomplished. I’ll have another dream or target.
‘When my time is over, everyone can say if it’s good or bad, accomplished or unaccomplished, success or failure. It’s up to you, it’s not a problem.’
Problems do exist within his team now though. Neither Kyle Walker nor John Stones were out on the pitch during the 15 minutes of training open to the media, with the pair missing Saturday’s 5-1 win over Watford. Guardiola said he will let those injured prove their fitness. If there was ever an occasion to risk fitness, it is this.
But assuming Walker and Stones are out, then there is a selection headache. Joao Cancelo is suspended, leaving City without an available senior right back.
Midfielder Fernandinho could be used there but the youthful pace of Vinicius Junior, Real’s most dangerous outlet, puts paid to that idea. Oleksandr Zinchenko and Nathan Ake might be expected to fill the full back roles instead, while the last time Guardiola operated a back three in Europe was that fateful night in 2020 when City were knocked out by Lyon, the round after they had defeated tonight’s opponents.
‘I would say the two games against Sporting and the first leg against Atletico, we played well to not concede goals,’ said Guardiola. ‘But the second game against Atletico we could have conceded goals. We’ll have to defend well. When we suffer we want to stick together.’
They will have to against the prolific Benzema, one of the men who scored to trigger that Mourinho eruption all those years ago.