Pep out to make a TON of chances
THE 100 Club sounds like something you would find in the casinos here in Monte Carlo where Manchester City are ready to throw caution to the wind and gamble their Champions League prospects.
For Pep Guardiola, tonight represents another milestone in a decorated coaching career. City’s last-16 tie against AS Monaco brings up a century of matches in Europe for their Spanish coach.
Guardiola approaches that landmark guaranteed of first place in the list with just 15 defeats against his name. None of the other 28 luminaries — among them Sir Alex Ferguson, Jose Mourinho, Louis van Gaal, Carlo Ancelotti and Fabio Capello — can match it.
The City boss is under no illusions, however, just how well his team will have to play in the Stade Louis II to avoid his 16th loss in Europe and secure a place in the quarter-finals.
That much was clear from a pulsating first leg at the Etihad three weeks ago when Monaco, the French League leaders and highest scorers in Europe’s top divisions with 123 goals, twice led City before losing 5-3 in one of the games of the season.
Guardiola’s side may hold a twogoal advantage, but he maintains that City will be eliminated if they do not score at least once more. Barcelona’s stunning comeback against PSG last week is still fresh in the memory, and attack is the best form of defence.
As he prepared to go toe-to-toe with Monaco again, Guardiola warned that he would commit Champions League suicide by trying to sit back on the lead.
‘If one team scores 123 goals and you are thinking about only defending for 90 minutes because we won one game 5-3, you kill yourself,’ he stated.
‘It will be a huge mistake for our side to think about what we’ve done and forget what we have to do. Monaco can score in many, many ways, so the best way is to score goals.
‘Take the ball and attack as much as possible is the only way I know to beat this type of team.
‘They are a top team, the best team in the world at scoring goals. They attack not with four or five but six guys. I was really impressed before our game, more impressed after facing them and now we have to do a huge performance to be in the next round.
‘If the opponent is much better than us, they are much better than us, but not because we are reserved or speculate. I don’t like my teams to speculate.
‘Sometimes, maybe it was a mistake (not to), but I want them to be encouraged to play the game and try to score goals.’
But could City actually win the Champions League playing that way? ‘Yes, sure,’ replied Guardiola. ‘I could not assure anyone, even when we won the Champions League with Barcelona, or arrived in the semifinals with Bayern Munich. But it is the only way I know and this will be another fantastic game.
‘I invite people to come here and see a good game. I am pretty sure of that.’
It is a high-risk policy and Guardiola certainly looked like one of Monte Carlo’s high rollers when he and the City players arrived in Monaco wearing black turtleneck sweaters and sharp grey suits yesterday afternoon.
With the exception of long-term casualties Gabriel Jesus and Ilkay Gundogan, all of them had trained in Manchester before flying to the south of France.
For Monaco, their main concern centres around captain Radamel Falcao, who is expected to play despite picking up a hip injury at the weekend.
There are no shortage of attacking threats to City in the red and white of their opponents.
Guardiola’s place at the top of the 100 Club may be secure, but his proud record of reaching the semi-finals of the Champions League in each of his seven previous seasons as a coach is not.
It is not something that would have kept him awake last night.
He said: ‘Believe me, I’m not here to think: “I’ve reached the semi-finals seven times in a row and if that happens again it’s good and if not it’s a real pity”.
‘I’m so satisfied already about my personal success. That is enough for me. What I wanted was a new club and to help them be as stable in Europe for as many years as possible. It will be a dream to reach the quarter-finals.’