Manchester City hosted a Pep Guardiola press conference on Tuesday ahead of Wednesday’s Champions League match with Real Madrid.
Manchester City are riding high after a massive week in the Premier League title race which saw them move to the top of the pile.
Pep Guardiola’s side piled the pressure on Liverpool and Arsenal with a 5-1 win over Luton Town on Saturday before their title rivals both lost on Sunday.
City are two points clear with six games remaining and now have destiny in their own hands.
There will be a switch of attention on Wednesday, though, as City return to European competition to face Real Madrid.
The scores are level after a pulsating first leg in the Champions League quarter-final ended 3-3 at the Bernabeu last week,
It’s all on the line at the Etihad Stadium and Guardiola has given his thoughts in his pre-match press conference, broadcast on City’s official website.
How big is a game against Real Madrid?
“Always have been and always will be. Real Madrid in this competition, always a big game.”
Does this game motivate you the most?
“It’s special for me, of course it is.
“Many times as a footballer and manager but this doesn’t count, what counts is what you have to do to win tomorrow and we have to adjust something we have not done really good in Bernabeu.
“The result was really good, counting where you play against the opponent you play, it’s more than fine but we have to perform a little bit better. Today we will have the last training, talk about that and go for it.”
Is the pressure off after winning the Champions League before?
“I hope not. You need to feel that pressure. You don’t want to lose the game.
“If you think ‘okay, we’ve done it already’, we won’t have this piece of hunger to compete against the teams.
“So it’s true the fact we won it, we feel better, comfortable, but you have to take the right energy. I think our people at home will help us a lot, we sold out everything and we need a lot of noise.
“We need a lot of presence of them especially in bad moments because what I said before the game in Madrid, you are 90 minutes all the time you are better.
“There are moments you have to suffer. Results can not be good and we need them. They will be, I’m pretty sure of that because they know we will be.
“In these types of games I’m not talking win or losing, I’m talking about be present, be who we are.
“Always we have been in the last years and I have the feeling that we are prepared to perform well.
“At maximum our best otherwise we can not reach the semi-finals against teams like Madrid.”
How do you cope with the busy schedule?
“I’m used. It’s better to be here, it’s better to be Wednesday, Saturday then don’t be here, so I will not complain one second about that. It is what it is.
“So we want more days to prepare but it is what it is. 24 hours a day is a lot so you can find a way, have a lot of people help you.
“The important is to take the right decisions and that’s what you think more than the fact of work because last season we played against Madrid, last week we play. We know each other.
“They know what we know. We have to be wary of the surprises Carlo has done in the first game and right mentality, ready to suffer.
“It never ends until it ends in a good way and a bad way. Always we have momentum and desire and hopefully extending as long as possible in that way always we can do it.”
Kyle Walker injury latest
“I’m going to see the training. The last one or two rainings he trained good, he feels good. His face his mood.
“I don’t know from the beginning, I don’t know from the bench, I don’t know but I think he will be with us tomorrow and like Bernardo said it’s incredibly good news for many reasons.
“Today at 4pm we have the last training session and then decide.”
How important is Walker if he is fit?
“Of course he’s important. In Europe, the physicality is massively important, how you challenge your opponent.
“In that you lose the quality from Kyle, everybody knows it. He’s special.
“He was not in Bernabeu and all the guys were exceptional because in Bernabeu we had big, big problem because Nathan was not there, Josko wasn’t until the last minute, Kyle wasn’t there so we had a big problem.
“Today we are in a better position to switch some players and make some adjustments in case we need it. It’s important that Kyle and Nathan being on the bench, they train and we need it because they make a good effort.
“It’s important that Kyle and Nathan being on the bench, they train yesterday and they feel good. After the training say how you feel, yeah feel good, feel good. It’s good news. After we decide.”
Guardiola on Jude Bellingham
“I think Bellingham shows playing at the top clubs Madrid, Barcelona, it is not easy to settle quick and he settled a lot quicker.
“From the beginning, he was huge in terms of goals, in terms of presence and many things at his age. I think he handles the pressure without a problem and have a good mentality.
“He’s an exception player. What can I say? We have to control him.”
