- 22 hours ago
Guardiola believes this team will become his greatest Manchester City legacy
21/04/2026
CFGA, Manchester, Uk
21/04/2026
CFGA, Manchester, Uk
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00You can finish on the same points as Arsenal if you win every game.
00:06Does that mean every goal counts as well?
00:10Even if you're winning easily in a game,
00:12but does every goal count for the goal difference?
00:15Yes, absolutely.
00:17It can happen, but it cannot be distracted
00:19for the fact that they're going to score a lot of goals.
00:22We'll be unbalanced,
00:23and when unbalanced we are going to concede a lot of goals.
00:25It's the same question.
00:28I had the feeling that the opponents that we face,
00:31we are going to score a lot of goals, I would say.
00:35The margin.
00:36The rivals are really, really good defensively.
00:40We talk mainly the next opponent.
00:43So we have to try to go there, do what you have to do to win the game.
00:46It's the same like before Arsenal.
00:47What is the game plan?
00:48What do you have to do to play?
00:49Not the consequences.
00:50Not what will happen if you win or lose.
00:51Before Arsenal everybody says,
00:53what will happen if you lose?
00:54What will happen if you lose?
00:55What will happen if you lose?
00:56Nobody else.
00:56What will happen if you win?
00:58Right.
00:58So that is the same.
00:59What you have to do in the game plan to beat Burley,
01:02and the game will dictate if we're going to score goals or not.
01:04As much as we play, more chances we have to play.
01:08So if you tell me, listen, if you win seven strikers,
01:11you are going to score 20 goals.
01:13Okay, I'm going to play with seven strikers.
01:15But that doesn't mean that it doesn't work.
01:17So you have to defend well.
01:19All the throwing set pieces and after attack well, defend well.
01:24Do all the things were working or talking for the last month.
01:29So we did what they do.
01:30And after maybe we are able for our game.
01:33It's fluid.
01:34It's nice in the momentum.
01:35We can score a lot of goals.
01:36Do you remember, you were obviously a teenager at Barcelona.
01:41Do you remember when Arsenal and Liverpool were going on goal difference for the title in 1989?
01:47That didn't, wasn't.
01:49So young.
01:50No, no.
01:51I don't remember.
01:54What happened?
01:55That Arsenal won in the last, in the last game.
01:57Right.
01:58What time was it?
02:00And it scored for one goal.
02:02For one goal.
02:04Arsenal won the.
02:068-9.
02:06Yeah.
02:08So Arsenal won, so relax the season.
02:11You don't have to push again.
02:16You've obviously been in this position so often before during your career with trophies
02:20on the line with the final few games of the season.
02:21Do you still get nervous in these situations?
02:23No.
02:24Nervous was last season.
02:26Pressure last season.
02:28I could bring, as a manager, the team not in the Champions League.
02:31Now we're more relaxed than ever.
02:33Even before Arsenal.
02:35The feeling that we have done a really, really good season.
02:38So now is the moment to enjoy more than ever.
02:41And knowing that we have an every game, the message is so clear.
02:48It's not even a message.
02:49They know it.
02:51And no, no.
02:52It's completely, completely the opposite.
02:53Last season in Fulham away, that was the night before was, oh.
02:57That was tough.
02:58Because, you know, qualifying for the Champions League is so important for the club.
03:02Now we have done it.
03:03We have the Carabao Cup, semi-final in a few days against Southampton in Wembley.
03:07And try to fight to win the Premier League.
03:09So that is...
03:13That's good.
03:14Really, really good.
03:14That's why I'm a manager, to leave that moment.
03:16Do you see it as part of your job as a manager to convey that sort of sense of
03:20I'm relaxed to your players?
03:21Or is it their job to kind of handle that themselves?
03:23They see me.
03:24My face speaks for itself perfectly.
03:26I don't need sometimes to talk when they see my eyes and my face.
03:29They know it.
03:30And they know me.
03:34Quite, quite, quite good.
03:36Pep, you said earlier, obviously, it's not a very experienced squad.
03:41It's obviously made that you're in this position really impressive
03:44over what's happened throughout the season, given the squad's so young.
03:47The leadership team is quite young as well.
03:50Probably...
03:50Sorry?
03:50The leadership team, the captains are quite young as well, really, as a group.
03:55Yeah.
03:55How impressed have you been with them this season?
03:57Captains?
03:58They're top.
04:00I don't know who is young because it's Bernie, Rodri, Erling.
04:04Ruben, sorry.
04:06Bernie, Ruben, Rodri, Erling.
04:07So, young, young, young.
04:09I think probably the ones in previous years have been...
04:12Most of them have been 30.
04:14Yeah, but it's not about the age.
04:16So at the end, Erling is not 30, but you have a...
04:20I've already lived many, many, many things.
04:22And the other three have been in the biggest stages, in the big moments,
04:26in the big titles, many, many years.
04:27So I think it's good.
04:29It's more for the fact how you see Mark, for example, or Antoine, or Kusa,
04:34or the players that are playing there, for the first time in their life,
04:38is living the title race.
04:40And that is completely different than the other one they have been before.
04:43You know, the field, Ryan Cherkis, or...
04:46You know?
04:47And a lot of players in the...
04:49That helped us in the bench in the last game, so we're the same.
04:52So this is really new.
04:54Before, it was a lot of players, you know?
04:56But a lot of players last season were here, and we were not competing good.
05:00So at the end, this kind of thing, the experiences, or this kind of...
05:03Like I have experience, I'm going to handle this situation.
05:05It's not.
05:06I don't believe zero with that.
05:08Zero.
05:08But you have incredible experience, and the right moments you miss.
05:12And at the end, I judge...
05:14I'm really pleased, I'm really pleased whether the Havertz missed the goal
05:17or the Havertz would have scored the goal.
05:18So it was good.
05:20I'm happy, I'm better because I'm closer.
05:22We won three points, they lost three points, but...
05:24At the end, in these stages...
05:27I put an example, right?
05:29So in the final Champions League, we won in Istanbul.
05:31The last moment, Lukaku in the header is two meters here.
05:35Two meters, even closer than Havertz last game.
05:38And Eddie is safe, and we won the Champions League.
05:40And we want extra time, maybe.
05:42The disappointment, we don't win the Champions League.
05:44And the team will be good, or bad, or...
05:48I see the spirit, how they train, how they behave.
05:53It's one of the best groups as a football player,
05:55and the spirit that I've ever seen in my career.
05:58So that made me so proud, so happy,
06:02that we revealed a little bit with many, many good players,
06:05a good sense of togetherness, and that I like it.
06:10Sorry, that was sort of my question, really, about the togetherness,
06:13because it feels like this squad is very together this season.
06:16I just wondered why, what's been done behind the scenes
06:19to sort of cultivate that, and why that's happened?
06:22Well, show what is being required to create a group.
06:26Like, there's a point for the players who don't play it's normal,
06:29but there is boundaries on the limits,
06:31and how they hack each other in the game,
06:34how they support in the bad moments,
06:36how come back again.
06:38And the leaders, the captains talk a lot with the guys.
06:41You know, we have experience at Neverland.
06:43He and that league is so long.
06:45Whatever happened, continue, continue.
06:47So many, many things.
06:48So I think the legacy for the old players, to the young ones,
06:51is we have to deal with this kind of situation.
06:54And doing the same, we could be five or six in the league, right?
06:57But what you have to do, this is what you have to do.
07:01After the result, win or lose, win this league.
07:04I said before, I don't know because Arsenal or Man City
07:07has not done much better in the past,
07:09or it's because the middle class or the low teams rise unbelievably
07:14and make more difficult for Arsenal and City.
07:16put these two examples for the teams that are, you know,
07:19the challenges to win there.
07:21But I see Aston Villa.
07:22I see Brentford.
07:23I see Sunderland.
07:24I see all these kind of teams.
07:26They are extraordinary.
07:28Really extraordinary.
07:29And difficult to beat.
07:31And that's why every time I have a feeling it's more difficult.
07:36Pat, because of the rise of those teams,
07:38it feels more difficult for the top teams to win games in the Premier League,
07:42but also to win games by two or three goals in a comfortable margin.
07:49How has that changed things for you?
07:52The quality of the opponents.
07:56So it's just it.
07:57When I'm in the sideline and see Arsene how he's playing,
08:02I see they give incredible credit that we are there.
08:04So it's a top team.
08:07It's a contender to win the Champions League.
08:09It's the top of the league.
08:10And I see that game there.
08:13You have to sweat, sweat.
08:15You know, you have to fight a lot to beat them
08:18because they have everything.
08:20They're so, so competitive and mentalities
08:22and many, many good things.
08:23They do really well.
08:24When they say play short, they play well.
08:26They play long ball, they win the one ball, the second ball.
08:28At pieces, they win.
08:29It's a nightmare.
08:32So that's why.
08:33So I give a lot of credit that, you know, compete with them,
08:37against them, and the last two times beat them.
08:39So I give a lot of credit to these players.
08:42A lot.
08:42A lot of players.
08:43They know.
08:43They feel it.
08:44And when they celebrate it, even the people can say whatever stupid things
08:49they want to say.
08:49We celebrate because we know the value of the opponent.
08:51And we know if we don't win, we are, bye-bye.
08:54If we win, still we are there.
08:56So how can we celebrate it?
08:58As much as you respect the opponent and the fans of the opponent,
09:02celebrate whatever you want.
09:03I want to wait until the end of the season, celebrate and celebrate.
09:08Come on.
09:08I said every single game, go to our fans and enjoy the moment.
09:11So what sense is not the life?
09:13You have to celebrate just once if you win, and you don't win.
09:16You have to cry all the time.
09:18Come on.
09:19So as much, of course, we are going to celebrate in the middle of the week.
09:23We win three or four zero would be the opponent's difference.
09:25But everybody knew that that game, it was a final, especially for us.
09:31For them, not much, but for us it was a final.
09:34So, of course, you have to celebrate it.
09:38With the table being so tight though, I mean Burnley are trying to avoid relegation,
09:43but you've got Everton, Bournemouth, Brentford all fighting for Europe.
09:47It seems like more teams than ever have something extra to fight for in the last week.
09:51I think it's one of the good things that the last decade of 50 or 10 to 10 or 15
09:55years,
09:55it changed a lot.
09:56It's a good thing.
09:57Before, you know, maybe ten games left, just one team go to the Champions League
10:01and one team in Europa, and it was ten, eleven players on play for anything.
10:07Now, that is good.
10:08You know, because being both in Champions League, Europa League, conference,
10:12don't be relegated.
10:13Always you play for good things.
10:15And that makes the competition alive until the end.
10:17And that is a really, really good decision for the UEFA
10:20or the guys who decide to do it.
10:22Really good.
10:23Pep, you were talking earlier about not being nervous before the Arsenal game.
10:27Is that a big change from the earlier periods of your career?
10:32Would you be a lot more tense?
10:33And why has that changed, do you think?
10:36Just explain.
10:36The fact that, yeah, we've done it before.
10:41The fact that, always I learned from Barcelona, the key of the success of the one season,
10:46when you arrive as a team, at the end, the last month, being in contention.
10:51When it happened, it's a good season.
10:54It's a good season.
10:56So, when it happened, I feel more relaxed, the fact that we won as well.
11:02But at the same time, I said, okay, the responsibility to make today your job.
11:07And, you know, the joy that they see the game was unbelievable in both sides.
11:12And all around, worldwide they saw it.
11:14It was a good upper for the Premier League.
11:15Incredible upper for us and for Arsenal.
11:17And our fans, of course, they enjoyed it amazingly.
11:20We felt that.
11:22So, cannot be better.
11:23But, always talk about the past.
11:26And tomorrow we have a, I know perfectly, because I've been in the past,
11:29when you make an incredible moment, you know,
11:32quarter-final, semi-final after, go back to the Premier League and away.
11:36And the team, like, maybe is not fighting for the title.
11:39Always is so difficult.
11:41And that is the biggest, biggest task and biggest test for tomorrow.
11:45Can I just ask you about Mark Gwehi and Kusanov?
11:48They've only played a few games together,
11:50but they seem to complement each other really well.
11:53How do you think that is working so far?
11:56Extraordinary.
11:58Like Nathan, when they played the final in the Carabao Cup,
12:01was maybe one of the best players in the pitch.
12:04Johnny's coming back.
12:06Unfortunately, Josco and Ruben have been injured.
12:08But, of course, in the last games, Mark and Kusa.
12:15And, you know, when I said weeks ago,
12:18the football, either for the team, the future will be brightest,
12:20because I see young, young players, they grew up a lot that season
12:24and will be for the next year, many, many years there.
12:27And that is really good for us.
12:31Hi, Pep.
12:32Last time you played at Burnley, nearly three years ago,
12:34Vincent Kompany was in charge.
12:36Quite a lot has happened to him since then.
12:38What have you made of what he's done sort of since then?
12:42Well, I would say not bad at all.
12:46So, congratulate of Corbini and Bayern Munich, a place like I was,
12:50like I have a lot of friends.
12:52And, again, they show high, high quality football
12:55and entertaining football with a lot of goals and actions.
12:59I know the people are so happy Munich.
13:01So, they won again the Bundesliga.
13:04Just a huge congratulations for all organization from Bayern,
13:06because it's an extraordinary, but really, really extraordinary club.
13:10Well managed on the set lines, on the board, with all the people, to the fans.
13:17And now, yeah, ready for the, you know, semi-final Champions League.
13:21So, I wish him, of course, all the best.
13:24Still think maybe a future Manchester City manager one day?
13:27I'm not suspicious to say.
13:29I did it.
13:30I said that for a long time ago when we was in, I think, in Berlin,
13:34in the Fiat Cup or Carabao Cup.
13:35We played at home.
13:36And I saw the games.
13:37I said, that guy will be manager sooner or later.
13:39But, so young, still have just, yeah, two years in Munich.
13:44One or two years in Munich.
13:45So, still will be there.
13:48And, but sooner or later, I had the feeling when, just in case,
13:50just in case, decide in a certain moment.
13:53He will decide.
13:54Bayern will decide.
13:55Come back to England.
13:58I'm pretty sure Manchester will be in his heart and will be in his mind.
14:02And, hopefully, the path will cross at a certain point in his life.
14:08Last one, yeah.
14:09And, Pep, last night I was watching a documentary on Barcelona on Ronaldinho,
14:13actually.
14:14And, as I watched it, I couldn't help but think of Ryan Shirky
14:17and the way that he plays that sort of expressive flair.
14:21It just brings so much joy to people.
14:23On two sides of it, I'm curious how you find working with him
14:26and trying to develop him.
14:28And, also, the brilliance that he showed for the goal nearly sums him up
14:32as a player, doesn't it?
14:33That he's quite fearless.
14:35Ryan?
14:35Ryan, yeah.
14:36Yeah.
14:37What a goal, right?
14:40But, yeah, I like to push him.
14:43So, it was extraordinary.
14:46What I like the most is the difficulties, 1-0-0, going down,
14:49always make a step forward.
14:50But, sometimes, when we were 2-0 up, 3-0 up, he's not involved anymore.
14:54So, make an incredible goal.
14:56But, after that, maybe it was, for the way we played,
14:58we didn't find him much after the goal.
15:01And, I want him more.
15:03And, that action that he has done, I want five of them.
15:09Not finish with goal, right?
15:10But, more actions to pass at the end.
15:13It didn't happen.
15:15And, sometimes, the last games, when we went to up or the other one, he is like, not disappear.
15:21But, he's not.
15:23And, instead, have the biggest attribute.
15:25When he's 0-0 going down, we found him more.
15:29And, yeah.
15:30But, I think it's part of the process.
15:32How old is he?
15:3222, 23 years old?
15:34Pfft.
15:35He's so young.
15:36As much as you want to, you know, learn or want to be still this sense of being incredibly competitive,
15:43he becomes a top player.
15:45Because, the goal he has as a score is Ryan Cherki.
15:49So, that cannot be teach.
15:51It cannot be guide.
15:53It's just his amazing talent that he has.
15:57Thank you, everybody.
15:58OK, thank you.
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