Guardiola gives Manchester City permission to believe
His club's performance in their 3-0 Champions League loss to Liverpool at Anfield was not a "disaster" according to the former Barcelona boss
Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City to have faith in an improbable turnaround despite Liverpool romping to a 3-0 Champions League quarter-final win in Wednesday's first leg.
The game and, arguably, the tie, was settled inside 31 minutes at a raucous Anfield as goals from Mohamed Salah, Alex Oxlade-Chamberlain and Sadio Mane humbled the runaway Premier League leaders.
City were beaten 4-3 on Merseyside in January but Guardiola feels their exploits elsewhere – a 5-0 win at home to Liverpool last September, for example – should give them a reason not to give up the ghost.
"In this room I think there is nobody except the guy talking to you who believes we can go through. There are 90 minutes more, we are going to try," he told a news conference, before grouping City in with the other seemingly doomed teams in the draw.
"I believe a lot in my team. They show me many good things in the season. The result is so tough, you cannot deny it.
What about you, @jumojay? Do you think they can do it?
Theoretically, of course they can. Liverpool have thrown away significant leads before. But against city, the pre-match tournament favourites?
Liverpool have too much experience, I'd say and some incredible firepower. They'll be so up for the return leg. I can see it being over in minutes with an away goal being conceded.
I'm also guessing Salah didn't get a scratch last night. He was just being protected for the second leg and given a supposed reason for not being selected for the merseyside derby. Klopp had to claim a niggle in case it had backfired and City got back into the game.
I can see United turning over City now at the weekend (though City can hardly fail to land the title sooner or later, realistically).
It's all getting exciting, isn't it?
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