Pep Guardiola: Remarkable Manchester City fought together to reach first Champions League final
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Updated 05/05/2021 at 08:40 GMT
Pep Guardiola after Man City reached the Champions League final: "[Manchester] United won a title because of John Terry's slip and in the last minute against Bayern Munich and Real won a title against Atletico in the 93rd minute. It’s a competition that is so difficult and something in the stars is involved in that."
'Our reward for four years' work' - Guardiola
Pep Guardiola is hoping there will be “something in the stars” in Istanbul after he guided Manchester City to their first ever Champions League final.
City beat Paris Saint-Germain 2-0 on Tuesday night to wrap up their semi-final 4-1 on aggregate, and they will now face Chelsea or Real Madrid in the final on May 29.
For Guardiola it is a first final since he won his second European Cup as Barcelona manager in 2011, and after ensuring PSG’s wait goes on, the City boss hopes the “little details” will help his side make history later this month.
Guardiola told BT Sport: “People believe it’s easy to arrive in the final of the Champions League. Getting to the final now makes sense of what we have done in the past four or five years.
"Every day these guys have been consistent and this is remarkable. We scored a goal through the hips in the first game, and today Marquinhos hit the bar in the first half - you can be out for little details.
"[Manchester] United won a title because of John Terry's slip and in the last minute against Bayern Munich and Real won a title against Atletico in the 93rd minute. It’s a competition that is so difficult and something in the stars is involved in that."
City recorded nine blocks on the night as PSG failed to record a single shot on target, with Ruben Dias picking up the man of the match award for his defensive contribution.
Guardiola added: "They [PSG] win every year the league, they are a team built to win, they fought to the end. They are a huge team but we were so, so composed. We fought together and we're in the final of the Champions League and those are nice words.”
City last reached the semi-finals in 2015-16 under Manuel Pellegrini, and after Guardiola took the reins they were knocked out of the last 16 to Monaco a season later before suffering three straight quarter-final exits to Liverpool, Tottenham and then Lyon.
Now with a first final to prepare for, Guardiola knows his side are on the verge of a Premier League and Champions League double to add to the League Cup they won last month.
He added: "It is for all of us and the club. I'm incredibly proud and my first thoughts are with the players who didn't play today. They all deserved to play, everyone has made a contribution and now it is time to enjoy it. We have to win the league and we have two or three weeks to prepare for the final.
"They put a lot of players in the middle and we struggled a lot in the first half to high press and we changed at half-time. We recovered the ball better in the second half and we were much better in the way we played and 4-1 on aggregate against a team that beat Barcelona and Bayern Munich and it means a lot to us.”
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