Pep Talk: “Everyone thinks if they play at their best, they will beat their opponent, it’s normal...”

Pep Guardiola was in an upbeat mood as he addressed the media ahead of the massive second leg of the UCL semi final vs Real Madrid. He spoke about expectations, injury updates and much more.

Let’s check it out-

“He (Walker) trained, he’ll travel, and we’ll decide tomorrow. Happy he’s back, he tries to be in contention tomorrow...”

“Joao [Cancelo] is not out, he’s doing good. Kyle [Walker], we’ll see how he wakes up and we’ll see...”

“Everyone thinks if they play at their best, they will beat their opponent, it’s normal...”

“In these games, there are moments of more control, more transitions. The whole 90 minutes won’t be the same...”

“Two good teams, we saw it one week ago. They are champions in Spain, we are trying to be champions here. I said a week ago, we’re in the #UCL semi-final to try and be in the second final in a row...”

“I don’t know what’s going to happen. The selection is try to win the game. There are moments you train really bad before the game and do exceptional performance...”

“The game is the past, 180 minutes. We try to do better than what we have done. We go there for that. I’d love to say what happens with these guys, everyone is ready to try to do it...”

“Experience? The question is what to learn from experience. You could make the same mistakes. It’s completely different, it’s difficult to compare to last season. How will the guys wake up tomorrow, what will be their moods?”

“The fact we’ve been there quite often in the last years, we’ve been here and done well and know how to handle the situation. But it’s not a guarantee to play good. They know we have to perform well and our best to reach the UCL final.”

“We have to be better, but we can play much worse and win. We cannot deny my assessment is right. Nobody knows. Sometimes you get what you don’t deserve, sometimes you don’t get what you deserve. We have to perform incredibly well and win...”

“For better or worse, we always knew this would be over two games. The Etihad and the Bernabeu. To knock Madrid out you have to perform well over two games...”

A shrewd presser by Pep, he never spoke ill and tried to motivate his team. A great one by him, as the team looks to compete in their second UCL Final. We’ll see if they get there.