Guardiola on City's form and health ahead of Dortmund Champions League clash

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Guardiola on City's form and health ahead of Dortmund Champions League clash  04/11/2025  CFGA, manchester, UK

Transcript

00:00First, followed by any questions in German.

00:02Someone to start, please.

00:06Hi, Pep.

00:08If I could just ask a couple about...

00:10First of all, just your thinking behind moving training today

00:15and why that's important for your team.

00:18We'll train tomorrow morning.

00:20Quite unusual, though, is it?

00:22No.

00:23I've done it a few times.

00:25Maybe not a lot, but I did a few times.

00:28Sometimes I prefer it.

00:29I don't see each other.

00:31It was a demanding game against Bournemouth.

00:33I prefer they stay at home and tomorrow morning we train.

00:37And then with...

00:38You have a lot of data here on your players and opposition.

00:43When you have an extra two days rest like Dortmund,

00:47does the data show that...

00:49We are used to.

00:50But does it show that that's quite a big advantage?

00:53It's what it is.

00:54No word is going to change the schedule

01:00because we have a lot of games, competitions.

01:02It's where it is.

01:04Germany and France, all the people in Champions League

01:06try to play on Friday to have more games.

01:10And he is completely opposite.

01:12I don't like it.

01:13I don't train in England.

01:14I go to train in Germany.

01:15I'm going to train in France.

01:16So, just in case they want me.

01:19So, that's why it's where it is.

01:22Pep, how important is this run of home games for you?

01:25Not just in the Champions League,

01:26but also in the Premier League as well.

01:28I was in the Champions League in the old format

01:31when we were making nine points in the home games

01:36and you have one victory away,

01:37always you are qualified.

01:39And now it's completely different.

01:41Okay, the format.

01:42And, of course, if we are able to do what you have to do,

01:47so in a home that I'm not saying it would be easy

01:50because Dortmund in this competition in Champions League

01:52always, I would say, they perform the best,

01:59their best, I would say,

02:00because always arrive in the last stages

02:02and always go through in the group stages.

02:06But with nine points more,

02:07we'll be, of course, qualified between the 24,

02:11but we'll be close to being the first eight.

02:14Do you feel in some ways better prepared

02:16for the Champions League this season, the new format?

02:19Maybe I was not clear enough,

02:23like you have been a thousand million times here.

02:26It's not about we are prepared in the new format or not.

02:28Last season we were injured.

02:31Fifty percent of the squad was injured during month and month.

02:35And especially in that period,

02:36what defined the Champions League qualifier

02:38because there are a lot of games.

02:39So that was the reason why.

02:40Of course, we are prepared for that format,

02:42for the old one,

02:43and maybe it was the first thing for the new format.

02:46So we'll be ready.

02:47It's just last season.

02:49We have a lot, a lot of problems in terms of

02:52we didn't have players,

02:54and that was more and more difficult.

02:57Hopep, big night for Erling tomorrow night,

03:00playing against his former club.

03:03Just when you think back to the player you watch

03:05playing for Dortmund and the one here,

03:07obviously he still scores a lot of goals,

03:09but how different has he become,

03:12or is he very much the same, do you think?

03:14First of all, it's not the first time.

03:16I think Erling played against BVB,

03:19and I think when he was there,

03:22he played against us one or twice.

03:24And I think he's going to the press conference, right?

03:27So it's a perfect question for him.

03:29But when you think back to when you signed him,

03:34you didn't really have a number nine at the time.

03:37You were winning the league with a false nine.

03:39I mean, was it always an incredibly easy decision to sign?

03:42I played with false nine with Messi.

03:44I played with nines with Lewandowski.

03:47I played with nines with Sergio Aguero.

03:50And I played nine here with Phil Ford and false nine.

03:53And now with Erling, we cannot play with false nine

03:55because it's too good being as a nine.

03:58So I adapt to always try to my players.

04:03Hi, Pep.

04:04I think it's about 14 games in around the next 60 days.

04:08Is this the most exciting part of the campaign?

04:11Sorry, sorry, sorry.

04:13Is this the most exciting part?

04:1514 games?

04:15No.

04:1614 games in 60 days coming up.

04:20But after Liverpool, I have 10 days off.

04:25I'm going to holidays.

04:27Yeah.

04:28But is the period...

04:29And after.

04:30Yeah, is the period coming up the most exciting part of the season?

04:33And does it set you up for the rest of the campaign?

04:37Yeah, but so you have international break,

04:39September, October, November.

04:40And after that, we start the...

04:42Yeah.

04:44And this country, November, December, January, February is wow.

04:47I don't know if exciting is the right word.

04:49But it's demanding.

04:51That's for sure.

04:52So, but...

04:52Yeah.

04:54One decade I'm here.

04:55So I live many, many times in this situation.

04:57How do you juggle then the team's set-up and training and everything that goes with it around this game?

05:03Yeah, that's good to handle the intensity, I would say, to them more than football.

05:07When, you know, when you play one game a week, it's completely different when we play three days.

05:11That's it many times.

05:12So the teams are really, really good most of the time.

05:16But play one a week is completely different when we play three days.

05:19That, the most important thing, is how you handle not just the minutes and how many minutes on the pitch,

05:25how many minutes in the meeting rooms, how here, the physicality.

05:30That is, from my experience, the teams we play every three, four days, three, four days,

05:34is the energy, the moment of the game.

05:37But at the same time, you have to train a little bit to understand what you have to do,

05:40the images you have to do.

05:42Otherwise, it's not possible.

05:45And, yeah, it's adapt.

05:48The teams, when you play three competitions or four competitions every three days,

05:52three days during 11 months, the only solution is how quick you adapt, adjust,

05:58and how you go through, go forward with the situation.

06:03Hi, Pat.

06:04When we spoke to you in the summer, you said for the first time in your career

06:07you decided the captains that you wanted this season.

06:11Obviously, Erling is one of those.

06:13Everyone knows what he's like on the pitch.

06:14But what did you see in his character, his personality off the pitch

06:16to think that he deserved to be in that group?

06:18It's difficult to find a real, real world-class player

06:23who starts to be incredibly humble and thinking what is the best for the team.

06:27I know he wants to score goals.

06:29I want to see the impact he knows, the way he's scoring goals has been the team.

06:33I had the feeling that I always have an eye on what is the best for the team.

06:37When that's happened, it's difficult to find.

06:39When a goal was the players who have this kind of ability or the talent

06:43or I would say generosity or kindness or whatever you want to say.

06:47And Erling is like that.

06:49It was a surprise, honestly.

06:50We normally strike it just thinking, go, go, go.

06:52Of course, he has to score goals.

06:54It's the best way to help us.

06:55That is obviously clear.

06:58But that's why I decided for that because that guy signed a contract for 10 years.

07:04So as much he's involved in many, many things, we'll be better.

07:10For him and for the club.

07:12Pep, do you think Erling is helping the team more out this season?

07:16I'm thinking back to the derby where he was sort of defending corners

07:19and putting more effort in that way.

07:22Do you think that's improved that part of his game as well?

07:27No, he's present in the set pieces today.

07:29He's so tall.

07:30He's aggressive.

07:30Of course, we cannot demand.

07:33We have to support defensively.

07:34I always try to organise the team.

07:36We organise the team to allow them to run as less as possible.

07:41And the effort, because it's so big, he cannot play every three days, 90 minutes,

07:46and make the big action to 30, 40 minutes.

07:48So I don't want that.

07:50That's why always another thing.

07:51Always I think the teams who play every three days, 11 months,

07:54as much as you control the ball, through the passes, through the passes,

07:58through the passes.

07:59Not in the period this season.

08:00During 11 months, you can handle the game in the way you want to do.

08:04You survive.

08:06Less injuries and everything.

08:07So that's why we try.

08:09But at the same time, when it's not possible,

08:11you have to help us.

08:12And he's helping us.

08:14Hi Pep.

08:15There will be some names in the Dortmund team that City fans will recognise.

08:19You had Jan Kouto here.

08:20Did you think about keeping him and playing him?

08:23Sorry, sorry.

08:24Jan Kouto?

08:26Jan Kouto.

08:27Yeah.

08:28No, no, you pronounce really good.

08:32Yeah, I'm happy that he's there.

08:34He came here so young, making an incredible impact with Girona.

08:38The best season in his history.

08:41And after, yeah, Dortmund, always approach for the young, young talents,

08:47invest with them.

08:48And after, to make impact there and have to sell them.

08:51And Jan is one of them.

08:53I'm happy that he's doing really well.

08:56And obviously, English fans will be interested to see how Joe Bellingham does over there.

09:00Is he a player you were aware of at Sunderland?

09:02I don't know.

09:11Hi Pep.

09:13Just on Erling's leadership, he's obviously quite a light-hearted guy at times.

09:18He likes to joke around.

09:20We see that in his YouTube and his social media.

09:22Does it help having someone like that in a leadership group that can kind of lighten the mood

09:27and make it less serious at times and take the pressure off people?

09:31Yeah, it's a new generation.

09:32The generation is part of the old generation like you and me.

09:36So the social media is completely different, right?

09:41So we are not as much involved.

09:44But the new generation, they grew up, you know, for the little, little babies and that,

09:49and part of the, you know, part of the lives.

09:55And they want to do it.

09:55As much as you respect, and always I tell you, be alert.

09:59That's all, you know, be alert.

10:01Don't show much your...

10:02But they can do whatever they want.

10:06In my respect, the club, the mates, and especially their private life, it's good.

10:12Thank you, everyone.

10:14Done?

10:15Yeah.

10:15Good.

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