Laporte: Liverpool win fired us up to perform
CITY used Liverpool’s win over Newcastle on Saturday to motivate them to three important points at Leeds, giving them confidence going into tomorrow’s Champions League trip to Real Madrid.
The big games keep coming for City and Liverpool, who face Villarreal in the second leg of their European semi-final tonight, having secured a 2-0 lead in the first leg at Anfield.
Jurgen Klopp’s men temporarily moved top of the table with a 1-0 win at Newcastle on Saturday lunchtime, before the Blues responded later in the day at Elland Road with a well-earned 4-0 win over Leeds.
And defender Aymeric Laporte revealed the City squad had watched Liverpool’s game and the result put pressure on them to respond. He said: “It was very important to win and we did it. We need to continue the same way.
“We knew Liverpool had won earlier and they keep getting good results, so we had to do it as well.
“I think we have been at a great level all season and we managed to respond to the pressure (against Leeds) with another solid performance.
“Of course, we watch Liverpool games and results, but we only focus on ourselves and make sure we do our job.”
Midfielder Ilkay Gundogan agreed, saying the players who came into the Blues line-up at Elland Road were important in keeping their title push going.
“We have to [be in great shape]. If you want to compete in these kinds of stages, you need to take care of yourself and you need to be the best possible version of yourself,” he explained. “Not just individually, but also as a team. Against Leeds we changed the team a little bit and we had quite a few players come in that didn’t play against Madrid in the week.
“Obviously, it is important for everyone to be ready and that is going to help us to maintain that level.”
Regarding the Real game, both players admitted the squad is in a confident mood following their 4-3 first-leg victory, with last year’s Champions League final defeat also a source of motivation.
Gundogan said: “We are going to play away and we are going to play in a great stadium against a great team. They are one of the greatest teams in history so you can feel how much of a challenge it is.
“It is the second time in a row that we are in the semi-final of the Champions League. It is huge for us and for the club, but I feel like there is still a long way to go.
“We want to make it better than last year, so we are going to be prepared for Wednesday, we are full of confidence and it is going to be a great game I am sure.”
Laporte added: “I think we did a very good match in the first leg, we would have liked to finish with a bigger margin.
“We know Real Madrid has a good story in this competition, but we are going to Madrid very confident to play a good match and secure the qualification to the Champions League final.”