CHAMPIONS LEAGUE PERIS THE THOUGHT
Joe mighty sure this is City’s year Inter star’s threat is a painful reminder of World Cup agony BLUES’ WILD ALERT
PEP GUARDIOLA will go down as Manchester City’s greatest manager if he can mastermind a Champions League triumph.
That’s the verdict of former City favourite Joe Corrigan ahead of the club’s latest bid to become Kings of Europe.
City owner Sheikh Mansour has spent more than £1billion of his personal fortune on transforming City into one of the most powerful clubs in Europe.
But the one piece of silverware to elude him during City’s trophy gathering decade is the biggest prize of all.
Guardiola was lured to the Etihad in 2016 in the hope he could help the club achieve the holy grail of winning the coveted trophy.
Suffering
City have never reached the final of Europe’s premier club competition, suffering semi-final exits last season and under Manuel Pellegrini two years ago.
But former City goalkeeper Corrigan believes this could finally be their year and said: “Under Pep the style of winning football we’ve been privileged to see has been arguably the best ever.
“He is already seen as a hero, but he will go down in history as the finest if he can help Manchester City win the Champions League.
“Nobody else has managed it and it’s something the club crave. It’s that missing trophy on the CV.
“The club have been lucky to have had some fantastic managers over the years, during all different eras.
“But you’d be hard pushed to find a manager who has changed so much in a short amount of time and has been that successful. The way they are playing, City shouldn’t fear anyone.”
Favourites
Guardiola’s men are expected to breeze through their favourable group and are already favourites to win the Champions League.
Real Madrid, who have won the trophy for the last three seasons, and bigspending Paris Saint-germain are likely to be in the shake-up along with Barcelona and Liverpool.
Corrigan added: “Everyone just thinks you spend vasts amount of money and you will win it. It says something about how tough the Champions League is to win. You need some luck on the way with who you are paired with.” Steve Bates ERIC DIER will be faced with a speedy reminder of how close he came to World Cup glory in the summer when he faces England tormentor Ivan Perisic in Italy this week.
The Inter Milan winger was Croatia’s semi-final hero against England in Moscow, scoring the crucial second-half equaliser that sent the clash to extra time before Mario Mandzukic grabbed the winner to leave Dier and the rest of Gareth Southgate’s Three Lions with shattered dreams.
As well as being a Croatian favourite Perisic, a long-term Manchester United target, is a key component of an Inter side who plan to make life tough for Tottenham in the San Siro Stadium on Tuesday as Mauricio Pochettino’s stars kick off their Champions League campaign.
It’ll be the first of two quickfire meetings with Perisic as Croatia play England again in the League of Nations in Zagreb next month.
But for Dier there are no thoughts of personal revenge as he confronts CHELSEA could be in for a shock on and off the pitch against PAOK Salonika.
The Blues have been warned to brace themselves for a “wild” atmosphere at the Toumba Stadium, which is capable of intimidating even the most experienced players.
And after beating Champions League regulars Basel and Spartak Moscow in Europe, PAOK are Perisic again just 69 days after that fateful night in Moscow’s Luzhniki Stadium.
“That won’t be in my mind. No, not at all,” says Dier. “It’s a completely different game and a completely different competition.
“It’s a club game and I’ll be purely thinking about beating Inter Milan and not Ivan Perisic.
“Of course, he’s a fantastic player. Croatia had a lot of really quality players in the World Cup and we’re going to face them again next month with England, so that will be another chance to test ourselves.
“I’ve thought about how close we came in the summer, but football moves on so fast you don’t really get the chance to sit down and think about it for too long.
Breakthrough
“We were so close but it wasn’t to be and we know there are still areas where we need to improve if we want to make that final step and we’re looking to improve on them now.”
Going to the next level applies to Dier at club level too.
Spurs haven’t won a trophy for a decade since lifting the League Cup and for all the promise, power and panache of Pochettino’s side they’ve been also-rans in the race for honours in recent seasons. The eyeing another big scalp when they face Chelsea in their Europa League opener on Thursday.
Ex-arsenal striker Chuba Akpom, who joined PAOK this summer, said: “I don’t think I have seen an atmosphere like this in my whole football career – and I’ve been to a lot of stadiums.
“It is so loud. They have one section of hardcore fans, but it’s the whole stadium making noise.
“The atmosphere could affect any team – even one like Chelsea.” Champions League is one of their targets. And going to the San Siro holds no fears for Dier after holding Juventus 2-2 in Turin in the round of 16 last February before going out of the competition 2-1 to the Italians in the return leg at Wembley.
“No that won’t be a problem, I think we have showed we can cope with that before,” says Dier.
“Last season we played Real Madrid at the Bernabeu and drew and did the same at Juventus. The year before that we played at Dortmund.
“They were all amazing stadiums with very difficult atmospheres. And we go to places like Anfield every year so we’ve dealt with all that beforehand.”
Dier believes Spurs are closer to making the breakthrough than England – but knows the final step is the toughest.
“I feel at Tottenham we’re further along than we are here with England. We’ve been together four years at Tottenham compared to just finishing our second year with England,” said Dier.
“We know in both cases we can still improve in many ways. From a mental standpoint we need to be stronger and constantly want more.
“That final step is the hardest bit, it’s what we’re striving to do. In both cases I feel we’re in a very good place, in all the areas.
“It’s just a question of making those final few steps and I feel we’re getting closer and closer. We can’t settle now.
“We need to keep pushing and pushing. Now’s the time to keep improving, working hard, like we have been and to believe in ourselves.
“After two years with England and four years with Spurs, we shouldn’t stop or slow down and be demoralised. This is the time to push on.”