Pep Guardiola urges Manchester City defenders to ‘maintain this mood’ after another clean sheet
Pep Guardiola admitted the pressure has been on him to win the Champions League with Manchester City since day one – but warned his players it is dangerous to think ahead.
City reached the quarter-finals for the fourth consecutive season under Guardiola with a dominant dismissal of Borussia Monchengladbach on Tuesday night.
Their 2-0 second-leg victory even took them to 706 minutes since they last conceded a goal in Europe’s elite competition.
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola is under no illusions that sterner tests await in the Champions League
Guardiola said: ‘From the first day I arrived here five years ago, they (the media) told me you are to win the Champions League. So it’s always on our shoulders but I’m not concerned with that.
‘Football, if you deserve it, you go through. If you don’t deserve it, you don’t. I’m not thinking to get semi-finals. I’m thinking to do a good first game (in the quarter-finals) and after, the second game.
‘That’s the only thing. When you are thinking about what you are going to win, you forget what you have to do. To do is analyse the opponent, how is our shape, how we want to play, our principles and try to do good games. This is all I’m concerned about. No more than that.’
City are only the third team in the competition’s history to keep seven consecutive clean sheets, after AC Milan – seven, ending in 2005 – and Arsenal – 10, ending in 2006.
Man City cruised into the Champions League quarter-finals after a comfortable 4-0 win on aggregate against Gladbach
Ilkay Gundogan scored City’s second on the night, clipping the ball into the far corner
On his defence, Guardiola said: ‘What happened in the past is the past. The quarter finals, one bad game, bad moments, bad minutes, they can punish you with their quality.
‘Right now all the teams will be so big. It’s important to understand that we defend with the ball. We have to be aggressive without the ball.
‘All the teams right now, the quality they have, they can punish you. After the international break, we will have time to think.
‘The quality every time is higher and hopefully we can maintain this mood. I always think when you go through you deserve it. We try to play good and we will see what happens.’
