New Headline: Pep Guardiola's Magics Lead Manchester City to Champions League Triumph Over Real Madrid
Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has been speaking to the media before Tuesday's Champions League last-16 second-leg game against Real Madrid at Etihad Stadium (kick-off 20:00 GMT). Here are the key lines from his news conference: Guardiola has "more or less" picked his team for Tuesday's game, but he did not give hints about who will start against Real Madrid. Because of the amount of travel they have done in the last week, today was needed to rest and they will train tomorrow afternoon.
On his decision for prioritising rest: "In modern football, training doesn't improve a match a lot. You don't have time to train. " He said the message to his players "is consistent" and despite being three goals down, they will be "sustainable in our approach" to the game.
On the deficit: "The task is massive to score more than three goals against Madrid. I'm not concerned about the chances we can create. We're at home.
It's more about how we are going to defend. " He said "it is an incredible opportunity to try" to turn their Champions League campaign around and they need to "try and try and never give up". On whether he's having to get his belief over to the players: "If you have to convince players about my belief after 10 years then we are in trouble.
They know me well. Every single game they have tried. I'm pretty sure they will try.