Pep Guardiola gets noticeably agitated when asked about the greatest absence in Manchester City’s trophy cabinet – but he also comes prepared.
“We want to try but that doesn’t mean we’re going to win,” he said, addressing City’s quest for the Champions League, which resumes on Tuesday night against Bayern Munich.
“Jack Nicklaus, how many majors did he play in his career? 120? How many did he win? Eighteen – wow. He lost more than he won.
“Michael Jordan, the best athlete, won six NBA titles. How many years did he play? Sixteen? He lost more than he won. These games are so difficult. The important thing is to be here, compete well and do our best.
“If I lose, I lose. I’m not perfect.”
City host Bayern on Tuesday then play the quarter-final return leg next Wednesday. The two sides have never met in the Champions League knockout stages, but Guardiola and Thomas Tuchel certainly have.
And it is another bone of contention for Guardiola, who bristles at the overthinking accusations levelled his way following the 1-0 loss to Tuchel’s Chelsea in the 2021 Champions League final.
“I overthink because I lost,” he added. “Maybe some decisions were wrong but maybe I make another one and it’s exceptional. Going well, good decision, going bad, bad decision. There are reasons why we take decisions. I don’t give too much credit to say how brilliant I was.”
— Sky Sports Premier League (@SkySportsPL) April 10, 2023
How many majors did Jack Nicklaus win?
How many NBA titles did Michael Jordan win?
Pep Guardiola on Man City's quest for a Champions League trophypic.twitter.com/R6AGNL2HLp
Ruben Dias, meanwhile, preceded his boss for Monday’s press conference duties and was philosophical about that defeat to Chelsea.
“Like a very wise man once said to me. ‘We didn’t lose the final [in 2021], we just got one step closer’,” he said. “I keep these words very close. Every year it’s about us getting closer… We are still in the pursuit, and we will keep fighting.”
Guardiola admitted he reviewed the 2021 final a month later and said “it wasn’t as bad as I thought”, and he is arguably right to dismiss the significance of this narrow defeat.
It may have denied them the trophy they crave the most, but Guardiola would go on to correct this short-lived shortcoming against Tuchel – having also lost in the FA Cup semi-final and Premier League within the space of two months – by winning both league encounters 1-0 last season.
Pep Guardiola vs Thomas Tuchel head-to-head
- October 2013: Bayern Munich 4-1 Mainz – Bundesliga
- March 2014: Mainz 0-2 Bayern Munich – Bundesliga
- October 2015: Bayern Munich 5-1 Dortmund – Bundesliga
- March 2016: Dortmund 0-0 Bayern Munich – Bundesliga
- May 16: Bayern Munich* 0-0 Dortmund (Bayern won 4-3 on penalties) – DFB Pokal
- April 2021: Chelsea 1-0 Man City – FA Cup
- May 2021: Man City 1-2 Chelsea – Premier League
- May 2021: Man City 0-1 Chelsea – Champions League
- September 2021: Chelsea 0-1 Man City – Premier League
- January 2022: Man City 1-0 Chelsea – Premier League
Guardiola wins: 6 | Tuchel wins: 3 | Draws: 1
It is perhaps telling of this close-fought rivalry that all five matches between Tuchel and Guardiola in City-Chelsea form were won by a one-goal margin, although it was less competitive in Germany; Guardiola winning four meetings and drawing one when facing Tuchel’s Dortmund.
So, if you’re keeping up with this merry-go-round, now it’s Guardiola against his former side, facing a familiar foe in Tuchel, who beat Guardiola’s City in the 2021 Champions League final with his former side Chelsea and is now coaching a side who won the Champions League when beating another of one of his former sides, PSG, in the 2020 final. And breathe.
That European pedigree has Bayern wishful and left Chelsea fans questioning his departure pretty much from the moment he left in September.
And six months on from that Chelsea dismissal, Tuchel has been thrown in at the deep end at Bayern.
Since replacing reported Chelsea target Julian Nagelsmann in late March, Tuchel has steered Bayern to two Bundesliga wins. The first a convincing 4-2 victory over title rivals Dortmund, the second a 1-0 win at Freiburg that made up for the shock DFB-Pokal defeat to the same side last week.
Exiting the DFB-Pokal was a surprise but also lasers in on Bayern’s primary objectives, and while an 11th straight Bundesliga title is the expectation, a second Champions League crown in the space of four seasons is the hope.
That is the hope for Joao Cancelo, too, who is in contention to face the club he left on loan in January in acrimonious circumstances.
Cancelo has endured a patchy run since moving to Germany, but two recent starts under Tuchel suggest he could get a run-out at the Etihad, and a chance to show his parent club what they are missing.
“I love Cancelo,” Tuchel said earlier this month. “I had to play against him too many times. Left foot, right foot, his passing, his creativity, it’s exceptional. I am more than happy he’s here.”
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