MANCHESTER: Pep Guardiola has praised the spirit and desire of his Manchester City players after their last-gasp win against Wolves as he prepares for Wednesday’s Champions League clash with Sparta Prague.
City, unbeaten this season, go into the game buoyed by John Stones’ 95th-minute winner at Molineux on Sunday, which kept them on the shoulders of Premier League leaders Liverpool.
The 2023 European champions have four points from their first two games in the group stage of the revamped Champions League after a 0-0 draw with Inter Milan and a 4-0 win against Slovan Bratislava.
City, who have won four consecutive Premier League titles, are playing in European football’s elite club competition for the 14th straight season.
Guardiola, speaking Tuesday at his pre-match press conference, said the manner of the win at Wolves and the way his men celebrated showed their enduring hunger.
“How we celebrate when a team now is in the position in the bottom (Wolves), how we celebrate in October, not in May or April like it’s happened, I feel the team still have the passion,” he said.
“How we celebrate in the locker room, I still feel ‘OK, they still want it, still we are there’ and that means a lot to me, a lot.
“They know, the team, how difficult it is to be consistent for six, seven years. You can be consistent for a month, for a season, but six, seven years and still now we are there. All the teams go down, still we are in that position.”
Guardiola said he was “more than happy” with how his team were coping in the absence of key midfielder Rodri, who has been ruled out of the rest of the season with a knee injury.
The City boss said it was important to make home advantage count against their Czech opponents, with tough away trips to come to Sporting Lisbon, Juventus and Paris Saint-Germain.
The new-look league format for this season’s competition means only the top eight teams out of 36 automatically qualify for the knockout stages after the initial eight-match schedule.
“It is not easy,” said Guardiola. “The games we have at home we have to close it, otherwise it’ll be difficult to finish in the first eight and that’s the target we want to achieve.”
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Guardiola applauds Man City mentality ahead of Sparta Prague test
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Guardiola applauds Man City mentality ahead of Sparta Prague test
- Guardiola said the manner of the win at Wolves and the way his men celebrated showed their enduring hunger
- “How we celebrate when a team now is in the position in the bottom (Wolves), how we celebrate in October, not in May or April like it’s happened“
Rybakina has little hope of change to tennis schedule
- Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina said Friday she agreed with Aryna Sabalenka’s description of the tennis schedule as “insane” — but does not see it changing
BRISBANE: Former Wimbledon champion Elena Rybakina said Friday she agreed with Aryna Sabalenka’s description of the tennis schedule as “insane” — but does not see it changing.
Speaking after her surprise loss to Karolina Muchova in the Brisbane International, world number five Rybakina said Sabalenka’s criticism of the packed WTA Tour calendar was correct.
WTA rules stipulate that top players must play all four Grand Slams, 10 WTA 1000 events and six WTA 500 tournaments, unless they have a valid reason such as injury.
Players who don’t meet these requirements risk being fined.
Sabalenka said Thursday that she was prepared to be punished by the WTA in order to rest her body and not risk injury.
“The season is definitely insane,” four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka said.
Rybakina, who beat Sabalenka to win last year’s season-ending WTA Finals, said players should be able to choose their schedules more freely.
“We all want to have more freedom of choosing what to play, what not to play,” said the Moscow-born Kazakh, the 2022 Wimbledon winner.
“You’re kind of forced to play most of the tournaments, so it is not ideal.
“You don’t need to force anyone to play so many tournaments since it’s so tough on the body.
“It’s not easy to show the same good results, be healthy all the time.
“But it’s a topic which we have had for a long time, and I don’t see much changing.”
The WTA told AFP in October that “athlete welfare is always a top priority.”
Speaking after her surprise loss to Karolina Muchova in the Brisbane International, world number five Rybakina said Sabalenka’s criticism of the packed WTA Tour calendar was correct.
WTA rules stipulate that top players must play all four Grand Slams, 10 WTA 1000 events and six WTA 500 tournaments, unless they have a valid reason such as injury.
Players who don’t meet these requirements risk being fined.
Sabalenka said Thursday that she was prepared to be punished by the WTA in order to rest her body and not risk injury.
“The season is definitely insane,” four-time Grand Slam champion Sabalenka said.
Rybakina, who beat Sabalenka to win last year’s season-ending WTA Finals, said players should be able to choose their schedules more freely.
“We all want to have more freedom of choosing what to play, what not to play,” said the Moscow-born Kazakh, the 2022 Wimbledon winner.
“You’re kind of forced to play most of the tournaments, so it is not ideal.
“You don’t need to force anyone to play so many tournaments since it’s so tough on the body.
“It’s not easy to show the same good results, be healthy all the time.
“But it’s a topic which we have had for a long time, and I don’t see much changing.”
The WTA told AFP in October that “athlete welfare is always a top priority.”
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