Pep Guardiola urged Manchester City fans not to boo the Champions League anthem as he prepared to fulfil his “dream” of winning the one trophy that has eluded him since he arrived in English football.
City take on Inter Milan in the Champions League final on Saturday attempting to become the first English club since Sir Alex Ferguson’s Manchester United in 1999 to win the Treble.
After chasing down Arsenal to lift the Premier League title they brushed aside rivals Manchester United in the FA Cup final last weekend to stand on the precipice of a historic achievement.
City fans have booed the Champions League anthem when it is played shortly before kick-off for several years but the animosity intensified after Uefa suspended the club from the competition for two years and fined them for breaching financial fair play regulations.
The suspension was later quashed and the fine reduced by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
But Guardiola has called for City’s supporters to end the booing to give their side the best chance of lifting the Champions League trophy for the first time.
“It’s a day to celebrate it,” Guardiola said. “For Inter and Man City fans it is a day to be happy. This is the most important thing. What happened in the past is the past.
“The Champions League is an incredible competition, we are here to support Uefa with their competition unconditionally. We are not going to boo anymore, we are going to support the game.”
Guardiola has swept up every trophy available at Manchester City, winning five Premier League titles in six years, the FA Cup twice and four EFL Cups, but his failure to win the Champions League is held against him.
“It’s absolutely a dream [to win it],” Guardiola said. “Absolutely a dream. To achieve things you need to have the right personal obsession and desire. Obsession is a positive word, having that desire to win. But of course it is a dream.”
Guardiola won the Champions League twice with Barcelona but the last time he lifted the trophy was 12 years ago. His City side reached the final two years ago but lost to Chelsea in a game in which Guardiola deployed unexpected tactics.
“I would like to tell you the lessons [I learned from that final] but I don’t know,” he said. “It’s a different game, a different time, different players. What we had in mind was success and to play a good game against Chelsea but it didn’t work. That is why all the people said it went wrong.
“[This year] we will be the same. We will have a plan, an idea and communicate that to the players. If it goes well, the day will be good. If it goes wrong, the day will be bad. We are ready. I have a feeling we are ready and the players will give absolutely everything. Go for it.”
Ilkay Gundogan believes the positivity from City’s fans ahead of the FA Cup final helped him score the fastest-ever goal in the competition’s final.
“Our fans were amazing from start to finish,” he said last week. “Hearing them sing ‘Blue Moon’ in the tunnel, the deafening atmosphere as we walked out onto the pitch to a sea of blue, the Poznan as we waited for the match to start on the pitch, it was incredible and, in my opinion, helped us score after 13 seconds.”
from Football - inews.co.uk https://ift.tt/fC7WI6Q
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