Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola urged his Manchester City stars to play much better – despite thrashing Sporting 5-0 in the Champions League. Riyad Mahrez put the Blues ahead in the seventh minute and they destroyed their opponents by adding a further three before the break to put one giant foot in the quarter-finals.
Pep Guardiola said: “We defend with the ball and we have to take care of the ball better than we did today. One of the principal rules I have is when you have the ball, try to pass the ball to the guy who wears the same T-shirt as you. This is the first. After, we will see what happens. When they are alone and lost the ball, it makes no sense and this happened many many times. The difference between both teams was not 0-5, that’s for sure. Today it was because we were so clinical and when this happens it is mentally difficult for the opponent and you are more confident and relaxed. Sometimes football is the margin of the first goal – offside or onside. When VAR took 30-45 seconds I thought maybe the margin of offside was like this [closes thumb and finger]. Sometimes the margin to win games is like that [gestures again] and all the analysis of how good one team is and how bad the other one is is from that margin. Maybe you have this duty but I have another one to see how they perform individually as a team and if we did the plan well or not. Don’t misunderstand me: it’s a dream, a perfect result and so good for the second leg, but we can do better.”
