MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola and his key man Kevin De Bruyne are prepared for a tough battle against Inter Milan in tomorrow night’s UEFA Champions League final in Istanbul, Turkey.
Although Guardiola has won two Champions League titles as manager with Barcelona, he is yet to reach that level again since his last triumph at the Spanish giants in 2011, falling at the final hurdle with City against Chelsea in 2021.
The Spaniard has won everything at City since joining them in 2016 except the Champions League, and it has become a ‘dream’ he is obsessed with actualising.
“Winning the Champions League is absolutely a dream,” he said during his pre-match press conference in Istanbul today.
“To achieve things, you have to have the correct portion of obsession and desire. Of course, you dream for it.”
Many pundits have predicted City to cruise to the trophy in the same manner they crushed champions Real Madrid 5-1 in the semi-finals, but Guardiola knows the Italians are not to be written off.
On Inter’s biggest asset, he said: “It’s the way they play. All the processes they do, on the left side especially, are exceptional.
“They have the ability to play that extra pass. We have to find a solution to be more effective.
“They can attack you down the middle, they can attack you out wide. That is very difficult to control. If you get into one-on-ones, they can destroy you. We’re going to try and defend as well as possible and just try to put in a good performance.”
Manchester City were also favourites to beat Chelsea in the 2021 final, but they lost 1-0 to Thomas Tuchel’s side despite having the majority of possession.
On the lessons learned from that defeat to Chelsea, Guardiola said: “It’s a different game. It’s two years later, many things have happened.
“We planned to have a good game against Chelsea [but] it didn’t work. Tomorrow will be the same. We’re ready. I have the feeling that we are ready.
“The players have a good feeling, knowing that they respect the qualities that Inter have.”
De Bruyne is also aiming for his first Champions League title after that loss to his former club two years ago, and the talismanic midfielder knows Inter Milan are capable of inflicting more heartache.
“We know what Inter are. They play with a 3-5-2 or 5-3-2 normally, with two strikers and runners from the full-backs. They defend really well, so we don’t expect it to be an open game,” the Belgium midfielder said.
“We have to understand not to get too nervous too quickly. There won’t be a lot of chances in the beginning. We have to try and play the way we do, then hopefully we’ll find openings.”
Manchester City are eyeing the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League treble having won the first two trophies already this season.
Incidentally, their city rivals Manchester United are the only club in English football history to have won the treble, which they achieved in 1999.
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