00:00Hi Pep.
00:00Hi.
00:02Recorded fourth straight FA Cup final to participating.
00:05How much excitement is the opportunity of lifting another trophy at Wembley?
00:10Definitely, it is excitement, of course.
00:13Hopefully we can do better than the last two times.
00:16Yeah, as you mentioned, the past two FA Cup final results haven't gone your way.
00:20How much determination is there at putting that right?
00:24A new player, yes, and it's forgotten.
00:28So, a new game against Chelsea, and of course we had a final and I have to try to win
00:37the trophy.
00:38Yeah, and at times this season when you've been asked about a refereeing or a VAR decision,
00:43you tend to bring up the Dean Henderson handball from last season, last season's final.
00:48How much did that hurt you, that result, and are you sort of over it yet?
00:52I congratulate Crystal Palace and still I congratulate them.
00:56So, in the finals when you win 4-0, the impact is zero.
00:59When it's so tight games, the impact decisions are so important, always have been.
01:04It was in the past, it will be tomorrow.
01:09Hi Pep.
01:11Is Rodri available this weekend?
01:14We see.
01:15We travel and we see.
01:17Right.
01:19Apart from Rodri, are there any other fitness issues at all?
01:21No, everybody's fine.
01:23It's a fully fit squad.
01:24And just, obviously there's another big game coming up in the week against Bournemouth.
01:28How much will that affect your thinking for this weekend?
01:31Zero.
01:33It's the final FA Cup.
01:38As you say, this is the FA Cup final and you're excited for it.
01:42So, I would think you don't need to motivate players too much, but as a manager, what sort
01:46of message do you give the players now?
01:48Do you talk about the last two years?
01:50Do you talk about the chance to get closer to a treble?
01:53What's your message going on this?
01:54The message is how we have to move, run, play against Chelsea to beat them.
02:01This is the message.
02:02The message is the FA Cup final, Wembley, with two prestigious clubs, with our fans.
02:11They make an effort, an incredible effort, to come down to London, but today is not cheap,
02:18and go to supporters and try to perform as best as possible to win.
02:23There always is a game plan, as you have to do.
02:26There have been reports this week about some of your coaching staff leaving at the end of the season,
02:30Lorenzo, who you've worked with feels like forever.
02:33Man City fans are wondering, does this mean anything for your future?
02:37Can you give them good news today?
02:39No, I extend the contract, all of them three more years.
02:44No.
02:47Pep, you set off this season, I'm sure, with aspirations for the Premier League
02:51and for the Champions League, but they've gone.
02:54But winning a second domestic trophy...
02:57They are gone.
02:57They're gone.
02:58You can't win those, obviously, now, so you're looking at the FA Cup and the League Cup.
03:02We cannot win the Premier League.
03:04No, in terms of the domestic trophies, if that's all you have to go at the end of the season,
03:09if you don't win the Premier League, so you have the two domestic cups,
03:14how much of a successful season is that still for you?
03:17This is what I said before, it depends on the value, the season is good or bad,
03:20it depends on the trophies you lift.
03:22St. Angelo Leaf's trophies in the season have been successful.
03:25St. Angelo Leaf in the season was really, really bad.
03:29So, I said, weeks ago, the season has been really good.
03:34Really, really good.
03:35How difficult now is it for the players, mentally and physically, the big game tomorrow,
03:40but then also a very, very big game on Tuesday?
03:43I prefer seven days like Chelsea had, but when you win the final Carabao Cup
03:46and you win one of these domestic trophies, you have less days.
03:51So, it happened in the past when we won the titles and it's not necessary to remember,
03:56the schedule is where it is.
03:58So, of course, it's not the ideal, but it's where it is and we did it in the past
04:02and we'll have to do it tomorrow.
04:03So, because the big clubs define, so the big teams define when you are in a more difficult
04:10sequence such as the opponent, you do an extra to try to do it.
04:14It is what you have to do.
04:15So, it's simple.
04:18So, it's not the perfect scenario to prepare the final because we didn't train absolutely
04:23anything since the last game against Crystal Palace, but I rely a lot on what you have to
04:28do and we're going to try.
04:33Wembley has played a big part in your career as a manager and as a player.
04:37I think this is the 24th time you've been a city manager to a final or semi.
04:41Does Wembley still have that kind of magic for you when you go down there for a final?
04:46Yeah.
04:46I'm so disappointed in English football, not making a stand to Pep.
04:52You know that.
04:53So, many times I've been there, at least a lounge or a box or something like that.
05:00Maybe I'll go 24 more times.
05:03I've been in a special place, definitely.
05:04Since Barcelona in 92 when we won the first Champions League with my club
05:09and, you know, and after with United, the second time Barcelona as a manager
05:17and many times since I'm here.
05:19You know, we've given their semifinals, finals, win, lose, lose, win.
05:23So, yeah, it's really good to go to Wembley again at 3pm.
05:28The two teams with the two managers and how the...
05:35I don't know who organised the Premier League or FAF, Federation, I don't know.
05:39So, it's really, really good.
05:41Good game. Top.
05:42What specifically do you like the most about it? Is it the history? Is it the kind of, you know,
05:47the atmosphere?
05:47Everything. You know, they set really well the final. You know, everything is so nice.
05:52So, the pitch is extraordinary.
05:56Hopefully, it will be a nice day and nothing wrong happened with the fans coming to the stadium both sides
06:04and desperate to, yeah, to perform well.
06:09So, read what you have to do when a team like with Callum always, you know, you see the patterns
06:16and they do really well.
06:19Do you remember Callum from his time here or were you kind of in different departments?
06:25Yeah, but I've never been in touch or trained together or been there, but I remember I was here, yeah.
06:32Have you reviewed the one-all at the Etihad?
06:35I didn't have time. Not today in the train.
06:38You will, yeah.
06:39Yeah.
06:40But obviously, you're saying, you know, his patterns, you have a lot of respect.
06:43They play different in the first half, the second half, the first half was more passive,
06:46the second half was more, more, more aggressive.
06:49We have our momentum.
06:50At the end, they will collide.
06:52So, we have to read what they're going to try to do in that terms.
06:55And they allowed us to make the process or incredibly aggressive with the physicality they have.
07:00I saw the game against Liverpool, the last one, because I like to see the last one.
07:03How is the vibe, the tone of the team?
07:07And they suffered the first 50, 20 minutes.
07:11And Anfield always happened.
07:12But after they came back, not just with the goal from Enzo Fernandes, just the time was good.
07:26I remember talking to you perhaps in one of the earliest visits to England as a manager of Barcelona.
07:33And at the end of the game, I asked you, what do you think?
07:35And you had your eyes big open and said, wow.
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