If anyone thinks the pressure is not on, just have to take a look at Pep Guardiola’s presser after the first match in the Champions League knockout stage against Sporting. The Portuguese champion was destroyed at home to the current Premier League champions 5-0, and the score of 4-0 at halftime was the highest by the visiting team in the history of a knockout stage of the Champions League. And yet, last year’s lost final in the competition, as well as failures with other clubs in this tournament over the year have done Pep no good.Ruthless City sweep off both the Lisbon curse and Sporting on the way to the UCL 1/4 finalsThe Spaniard is keener than ever to be 100% every game and finally wins the Champions League with City, so he was not happy with ‘only’ 5-0, especially after his team scored just one goal in the second half.“We have to do one more game to reach the quarter finals. The players know me and the way we work that we can do better. In terms of our build up some of them could do better. I’m incredibly happy, please don’t misunderstand me, but we can do better. There is one rule in football: when you have the ball and that’s not to lose it. We had some simple passes that we lost. Against the top sides in Europe we would be punished. Some players underperformed, we lost easy balls, but we were so clinical. Every time we scored. The difference between the two teams is not 0-5, they attacked with a lot of players in front of the ball but we punished them on the counter. Take care of the ball. Pass to someone in the same t-shirt. Joao Cancelo missed a lot of balls. We allowed them to make transitions. But we defended well. We have a duty as a manager and a team to analyse how we did collectively. The result is a dream, such a big result. We did nearly a perfect Champions League last season, lost the final and it was ‘oh what a f****** failure’”.200 – Man City have become the 14th team to score 200 goals in the UEFA Champions League – it’s taken them just 97 games to reach the milestone, fewer than any of the other 13 teams in the competition. Comprehensive. #SPOMCI— OptaJoe (@OptaJoe) February 15, 2022 When asked which team could “beat” Man City, the answer was a quick one.“Liverpool. They are six points behind us. Liverpool have been our biggest rivals over the last seasons, they are always there. A pain in the a** all of the time. They are a fantastic team in Europe. Just take a look – PSG today, they played really well against Real Madrid. Inter Milan, Liverpool, Man United are in this competition” said the Spaniard.Pep Guardiola: “Bernardo Silva doesn’t just play football- he understands football. There are players that play good with the ball but he understands every action like few in the world”, he told @spbajko 🔵 #MCFC #UCL @FabrizioRomano pic.twitter.com/Zj8XH7wsYK— Dean Reilly (@DeanJournalism) February 16, 2022 One of the rare players who probably didn’t receive any criticism from Guardiola is Bernardo Silva. The former Benfica man destroyed his rivals with his display and two goals.“I am Portuguese and I’m from the other side of the city so it was special to score here in my hometown. It was nice to start the last 16 with a 5-0 win. It’s always an extra motivation to come here to Lisbon in such an important game. There is still a job to do in Manchester. We cannot relax” said Silva.UEFA CHAMPIONS LEAGUERound of 16TuesdaySporting – Manchester City 0-5 (0-4)/Mahrez 7, Silva 17, 44, Foden 32, Sterling 58/PSG – Real Madrid 1-0 (0-0)/Mbappe 90+4/Wednesday23:00: (8.00) Salzburg (5.30) Bayern (1.40)23:00: (3.35) Inter (3.50) Liverpool (2.25)February 22nd23:00: (1.37) Chelsea (4.80) Lille (8.50)23:00: (2.70) Villareal (3.10) Juventus (2.75)February 23rd23:00: (3.50) Benfica (3.45) Ajax (2.10)23:00: (2.55) Atl.Madrid (3.15) Man.Utd. (2.85)***odds are subject to change
