Manchester City cannot control any outside narratives when it comes to the Champions League, Pep Guardiola admits, as the manager sent a simple instruction to his squad ahead of their last-16 second leg with RB Leipzig: just win the game.
City drew 1-1 in the first leg and with no away goals rule know that the winner of Tuesday's second leg will progress to the quarter-finals. That presents plenty of risk, and should City be knocked out, they should expect plenty of criticism for their failure to win the Champions League yet again.
However, Guardiola said he learned not to dwell too much on any outside noise regarding the Champions League from his first press conference, and urged his players to shut any wider implications of the second leg out of their preparations.
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"It doesn't mean I agree, but absolutely, we'll be judged for that competition," Guardiola admitted when asked about how public opinion centres on City's success in Europe.
"Before my first Champions League game here, they say, 'are you here to win the Champions League?' I said, ‘what?' If I was manager of Real Madrid, but here, I don’t know, I accept it, as much as I go through it’s not going to change.
"It's the same with many theories about this club. We cannot control it. It's nice at the start of the season we are the main candidates, main favourites in this competition. It's because of something we've done in the past, otherwise, they don't consider it. The reality is 95 minutes on the pitch.
"I took a look at Leipzig and said it’s a really good team. People talk in England about Napoli, Milan, Real Madrid, every team has qualities and strengths, tomorrow, in front of our people we have to win the game, not how many goals, just win it.
"Chelsea are through, we’ll see what happens with Liverpool. I am not thinking about the pressure of defending the UK in Europe. When leagues in the past go two or three or four in the quarter-finals from the same country, people say it’s the best. Every league is special. This league is really good but each league has its own thing and this competition, one game or two games, many things involved, with the players cannot control."
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