Champions League
Pep Guardiola Applauds Manchester City’s Mentality Ahead Of Sparta Prague Match
Pep Guardiola has praised the spirit and desire of his Manchester City players after their last-gasp win against Wolves as he prepares for Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Sparta Prague.
City, who remain unbeaten this season, head into the match energized by John Stones’ thrilling 95th-minute winner at Molineux on Sunday, keeping them close behind Premier League leaders Liverpool.
The 2023 European champions have four points from their first two games in the group stage of the revamped Champions League after a 0-0 draw with Inter Milan and a 4-0 win against Slovan Bratislava.
City, having secured four consecutive Premier League titles, are competing in European football’s top club tournament for the 14th consecutive season.
Guardiola, speaking Tuesday at his pre-match press conference, said the manner of the win at Wolves and the way his men celebrated showed their enduring hunger.
“How we celebrate when a team now is in the position in the bottom (Wolves), how we celebrate in October, not in May or April like it’s happened, I feel the team still have the passion,” he said.
“How we celebrate in the locker room, I still feel ‘OK, they still want it, still we are there’ and that means a lot to me, a lot.
“They know, the team, how difficult it is to be consistent for six, seven years. You can be consistent for a month, for a season, but six, seven years, and still now we are there. All the teams go down. Still, we are in that position.”
Guardiola said he was “more than happy” with how his team was coping in the absence of key midfielder Rodri, who has been ruled out of the rest of the season with a knee injury.
The City manager emphasized the necessity of leveraging their home advantage against their Czech rivals, especially with challenging away matches ahead against Sporting Lisbon, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain.
The new-look league format for this season’s competition means only the top eight teams out of 36 automatically qualify for the knockout stages after the initial eight-match schedule.
“It is not easy,” said Guardiola. “The games we have at home, we have to close it. Otherwise, it’ll be difficult to finish in the first eight, and that’s the target we want to achieve.”
