Pep Guardiola has stated Manchester City desperately need their fans to be noisy for Aston Villa’s visit in Tuesday’s “final” in the chase for Champions League qualification.
City are fourth on 58 points, three places but only one point ahead of Villa, with the top five guaranteed Champions League berths.
“Every point, every game counts,” said Guardiola. “Hopefully [our fans] can help us [from] minute one. Don’t wait. Sometimes we are sloppy, sometimes we are not playing well but it’s now we need them – we need them desperately, to support us, to make noise and be there all the time, because it’s a final, absolutely it’s a final for us.”
| Pos | Team | P | GD | Pts |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 3 | Newcastle | 33 | 18 | 59 |
| 4 | Man City | 33 | 22 | 58 |
| 5 | Chelsea | 33 | 18 | 57 |
| 6 | Nottm Forest | 32 | 13 | 57 |
| 7 | Aston Villa | 33 | 6 | 57 |
| 8 | AFC Bournemouth | 33 | 12 | 49 |
Guardiola pointed to Villa’s 5-4 aggregate Champions League quarter-final defeat by Paris Saint-Germain, in which Unai Emery’s side beat the French champions 3-2 in the second leg at home.
“[Villa] is a contender to qualify for the Champions League, and both games they play against PSG, wow I was really impressed,” he said. “They can play low block or not, but when they decide to go, with the weapons they have, the speed they have, the set pieces, and the way they organise …”
Guardiola is impressed with Nico O’Reilly, who scored for City in Saturday’s 2-0 win at Everton, the 20-year-old attacking midfielder again playing at left-back. The manager stated the youngster’s next challenge was to prove he is physically robust enough always to be available.
“Now we have one game a week. He has to see if he can play every three days, like for example, Bernardo [Silva] has proven, or Kevin [De Bruyne] has proven, or Rúben [Dias] has proven,” said Guardiola. “I admire that he’s playing a position he’s never played before, he’s learning. Of course he has to improve [defensively] but with the ball he’s good. He has a good shot, and quality in small spaces, and he’s helping us.”
Guardiola stated City would consider signing a centre-back in the summer. “We’ll see if we buy,” he said. “I don’t think we’re going to – we bought two in [January].”
