“Today is a great day”, Pep Guardiola announced upon arrival at the press conference after his players settled the ballot against Brighton. “We are mathematically classified for the Champions League. It is something very important economically and for prestige, and people always take it for granted. It’s an honor to be in this position and to have it happen every year since I’ve been here. It is the main objective of all the clubs in the Premier League.”
With the three points added on Wednesday night, the Mancunians once again overtake Liverpool in the standings to take the lead. With six games to go, Pep’s recipe for winning the Champions League is as clear as it is complex, although his team already has experience. “We have to win every game, it’s that simple,” he told the media. “If we don’t, they will be the champions. If we do, it will be us. We did it three seasons ago. We already talked about it, Liverpool will win all their games. After eleven months of work, we only have one left. We will give everything so that each match is our best match. I’m sure we’ll give it our all.”
John Stones was substituted and spoke to City doctors before taking the bench as the game entered its final stretch. The center-back felt muscular discomfort, according to Pep Guardiola after the match. The Catalan did not want to risk and took it out. Then he took the opportunity to joke about the criticism of the eleven that he raised against Liverpool in the weekend’s FA Cup semi-final and explain the absence, then, of Kevin De Bruyne: “We hope it’s nothing, we already have a lot of problems in that position. When people talk about my great selection on Saturday, You have to understand that there are reasons. I didn’t want to risk De Bruyne on Saturday because the Premier League is very important to us.”
Before finishing, the former Barcelona and Bayern player once again praised Jürgen Klopp’s team, his rival for the league title: “It is one of the best teams in the history of football, we played against one of the best ever. They have everything, so being here against them means a lot to us. The players know it, I know it. It’s a shame we didn’t beat them here because we were better than them when we played here and we deserved to win. Unfortunately we couldn’t get it.”
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