Pep Guardiolatechnician of Manchester Cityensured that a striker like the Norwegian erling haland It conditions the style of any team and he did not hide that they will play for him at the Santiago Bernabéu, against a Real Madrid team that he said is “much more than Vinícius”.
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“I like how my team plays, I’ve always liked it and this year as well. Using the long ball with Haaland is an advantage against teams with high pressure and we’ll try to take advantage of it. But the others are sometimes better, they also play, they’re not lame” , he assured in the press room of the Santiago Bernabéu.
Take advantage of Haaland
With this, Guardiola admits that he is retouching his style of possession, adding new variants conditioned by the profile of the footballers he directs.
“The style is set by the players, if you have Haaland you have to take advantage of it and we will play for him. When I didn’t have it, I played with a false striker and in a different way. The idea is to play to win the game“.
In his analysis of Real Madrid, to the praise for the moment of form of the Brazilian Vinícius Junior, Guardiola added one greater to the collective of the group led by Carlo Ancelotti.
“There’s a lot more than Vinícius, it’s true that he sinks you every time he picks up the ball and he’s being a very decisive player. Real Madrid is much more because of its packaging and experience in this type of match. If there’s extra time, better at home than away. This is a matter of a draw and it has come back at home. I think we are capable of winning anywhere and Real Madrid too”, he valued.
Asked on several occasions about the experience of last year, when he missed the final in a few minutes in which Real Madrid turned the tie around,
Guardiola defended the game his players played after watching the two games in recent days and analyzing them.
“The mental factor in our second game was much bigger than that of Real Madrid and we were left out. In the last minutes, Mendy took a ball on the line and Courtois stopped a ball with his studs. It’s the margin of being there or not in the final. It happened and it can happen again. We didn’t play badly in the last few minutes, we were able to defend some crosses better, sleep the game, but no matter how much you’ve lived, you can live it again through the good and the bad. We have to give a cojonuda provision in the two parties or will be very difficult, we know it”, recognized.
“It was hard, obviously, but in the end we had a good game and football is like that, they beat us and all that remains is to congratulate them and accept it. What happened is in the past. If we keep coming this far, one day we will win the competition. Real Madrid in this competition knows exactly what it has to do. The more times we face each other, the more prepared we will be”, he added. Now, despite saying that “ninety percent are the same players”, Guardiola expects “totally different games”, and he was convinced that “everything will be decided in Manchester “.
“We’re not here to take revenge; it’s over and done with. When you don’t win it’s because you don’t deserve it. We were the right team, we did what we could, we had incredible opportunities. The lesson we learn is that we come now for a good result, in an opportunity to leave the tie open for Manchester”, affirmed. Pep naturally faced the demand for his position, aware that the leaders of Manchester City expect the conquest of the ‘Champions’.
“When I arrived they didn’t tell me but it was clear to me that after the Premier League they wanted the Champions League. It’s okay, you don’t have to go crazy, they are two games in which we are going to try to do well in a special setting”. Although above the success, he highlighted
Guardiola the importance of having institutional stability in the project.
“Seven years ago I thought we were going to win the Champions League the following year and the same last season. We lost the final against Chelsea, last year what happened happened and here we are again.” “I wouldn’t like to win it, do crazy things to win it and then everything falls apart. The most important thing is to be stable as a club, as is Real Madrid, which is always there. It’s a stable, healthy club and when you get to the semifinals frequently, you’re going to win with all security. I’m a fan of Barcelona and it took a long time to win the Champions League for the first time. It’s a process,” he said.
EFE
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