EURO STARS
Blues end Champions League jinx - and stay on track for Quad
PEP Guardiola said Phil Foden’s celebration in the win at Borussia Dortmund was for all of the City squad and staff, not just him.
The Blues ace had just fired in the goal to put his side 2-1 ahead on the night, and into an unassailable 4-2 lead on aggregate in their Champions League quarter-final and ran straight to his boss on the touchline.
As the players dispersed, Guardiola kept Foden for a second to speak to him.
“He found me, he run everywhere to the bench and found me,” Guardiola said. “[I said] well done, good shot, good goal, thank you. I don’t know what I say in the moment.
“I think this hug is for all the club, all the people working so hard here so far this season to achieve what we achieve so far.
“The Premier League we need three wins to be champions, we are in the semi-finals of the Champions League, semi-finals of the FA Cup, final of the Carabao Cup. Incredible what we have done.
“Now we recover, celebrate tonight after we see what happens.”
Foden cheekily fired the first shot towards semi-final opponents PSG after the game by Tweeting a picture of him scoring his goal with the message ‘@KMbappe are you ready.’
City could claim four trophies in the next 10 games, but Guardiola said he is not thinking that far ahead.
He said: “One game at a time, never speak about the four title. One game at a time.
“The competition we are playing,
try to win it. This is what we have to do, so simple, not complication.
“Now Chelsea (FA Cup) semifinals, prepare Aston Villa, the (Carabao Cup) final against Tottenham then start to think about PSG.
“[We are in the] semi-final of Champions League. We cannot expect other than tough. Chelsea, Real Madrid again are there.
“A lot of games left. For the second time in our history we are there with the real elite of Europe. Now I don’t want to think about PSG for one second. I want to celebrate. Dinner with the team, sleep well, then tomorrow come home.”
Ilkay Gundogan, meanwhile, says City’s win was all about showing character.
He said: “We are grateful for being in a great competition. Reaching the semi-final for the first time with this team. Obviously, we are very happy about it.
“It was once again about showing character, we didn’t play well in the first 15 mins, we struggled, weren’t brave enough, we were a bit scared to lose something.
“After conceding we got better into the game, more possession, kept the ball. “Our target at half-time was to come back and score the first goal in the second half and get the game back into our hands.
“We know how tough this competition is every year. The opponents are so difficult to play, this Borussia Dortmund team has a lot of quality. On a good day they can beat everyone. It’s about staying in the game, attitude, personality, especially in that stage of the competition. We proved ourselves that we are ready.”