Jordan’s 6 NBA Titles in 16 Seasons Compared to Guardiola’s Quest to Reclaim Champions League Victory

Pep Guardiola, manager of Manchester City, said on the eve of the meeting with Bayern Munich in the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final that he was looking forward to winning the championship, but desire alone is not enough.

Guardiola responded during a press conference to a question about his desire to qualify for the Champions League with City, saying: “A lot. We must try. To be here in front of an elite club like Bayern Munich is a matter of pride.” We will not take the situation for granted. We will play two matches. Starting tomorrow.”

The Spanish manager explained why he did not win a Champions League title with Manchester City despite having taken over the team’s management since 2016, saying: “The question comes up every season. We tried to win the title in past seasons, but we also good clubs are up against them and they want to win the championship.” “I dream of having the feeling (of winning) again. We want to try, but that doesn’t mean we’ll win.”

Guardiola pointed out that: “Michael Jordan has won 6 NBA titles, but how many seasons has he been in? .. 16 seasons. In the golf world, Jack Nicklaus has played about 120 tournaments in 20 or 30 years and got 18 points.” “Great! He loses more than he wins, that’s what sports are, these are very hard games.”

In his speech, Pep Guardiola touched on his Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, who scored 44 goals in all competitions in his first season with Manchester City and is the Champions League top scorer in the current edition with 10 goals. goals so far.

The Spaniard said: “Haland is very important to us and I can’t deny his influence. He can help us in the Champions League, the Premier League and the FA Cup. It’s important to have a player who scores goals from nothing.” , but at the same time we scored a lot of goals before.” Comes as we scored 6 goals against Monaco and 4 against Tottenham and Real Madrid but we were eliminated at the end.

Guardiola stressed: “This tournament is not about the quality of your level in the national league or cup, but rather the performance you show for 90 or 95 minutes. You have to be perfect in this tournament and that’s what we need in tomorrow’s match.”

Today, Guardiola is facing German manager Thomas Tuchel, the new manager of Bayern Munich, for the first time in the European Champions League since the German coach led Chelsea to victory over City in the continental championship final in 2021.

Guardiola said of the 2021 final: “It was difficult, but we forgot about it and will try again this time. Sometimes you win when you deserve it, and sometimes you lose. I don’t live in the past and what happened to us is part of the past.” Sport.”

Tuchel took over the task of coaching Bayern last month, replacing the sacked Julian Nagelsmann.

The Spanish coach said: “I’m trying to find out the level of his skill in all lines. It was difficult against Julian Nagelsmann, it will be difficult against Tuchel. I do not pay much attention to this issue (change of coach). care more about what I do with my team.”

He added: “Tuchel is creative and a good coach. He’s good at building attacks, he’s good at connecting players, and he’s got a group that runs the space well.”

It is noteworthy that for the first time in the history of the Champions League of the Champions League, the teams Manchester City and Bayern will meet in the playoffs, but they have already met 6 times in the group stage of the continental championship, and each of the two teams won 3 matches, and the last match saw Manchester City win (3-2) in 2014.

Since taking over from Manchester City, Guardiola has won 4 Premier League titles and a similar number of PFL Cups in addition to an FA Cup title, but European success has eluded the manager, who won the European title twice with Barcelona.

Manchester City, under the leadership of the Spanish coach, reached the quarter-finals of the Champions League for 6 seasons in a row, and the best result for the team was reaching the final of the 2021 tournament against Chelsea.

Source: agencies