Pep Guardiola says it is a ‘pity’ Manchester City’s Premier League fate is not in their own hands but is targeting a blistering end to the season.
City cruised into the FA Cup quarter-finals with a 3-1 victory at Newcastle on Saturday evening before turning their attention to Wednesday’s Champions League last 16 clash with Real Madrid in Spain and beyond it, their Carabao Cup final showdown with Arsenal.
The Gunners currently hold a seven-point lead over Guardiola’s men at the top of the league table having played one game more and while the Spaniard is happy that he is approaching he crunch-point of the campaign with his team in form and his big players fit, he knows they will need a helping hand to keep their quadruple hopes alive.
He said: “We have experience of that in the trebles, quadruples. You have to arrive in the decisive moment of the season with the players in that position.
“It’s a pity that the battle for the Premier League in not in our hands, so that is a big drop against Nottingham, but I don’t think much.
“It’s just OK, now recover, go to Madrid, make a good selection and hopefully we can behave – I’m not talking win or lose, it’s behave in the way who we are.
“That’s always my focus when we play in the biggest stages against big teams. It’s not win or lose, it’s be who we are as an individual, as a team and after that, you can win or lose, you never know, but that is the main mentality I have in my mind.”
Guardiola is approaching the 10th anniversary of his appointment at City and can reflect upon a decade which has already brought six league titles, two FA Cups, four League Cups and Champions League glory.
However, he is acutely aware of the journey the club has travelled and acknowledges that it is becoming ever more difficult for others to do the same, as Newcastle are finding.
Asked if he sees the Magpies as future contenders for the biggest prizes, he said: “For the last years since the new owners and especially with Eddie Howe, of course it’s a team to be there, a Champions League team. Look where they are.
“They maybe have a lot of injuries this season as well and play every three days, four days, three days, four days and maybe they are not used [to that] for 10 years or 12 like City right now.
“The only problem in today’s modern football, especially in the Premier League, is just the fact when you play in all competitions, you have to have your players fit. When you don’t have that, nobody can survive, it’s impossible.
“When you have injuries, it’s pray and survive and arrive at the end in the position that we are.”
