Manchester City vs Steaua Bucharest: Pep Guardiola invokes Istanbul to warn his players against complacency
Guardiola's side carry a five-goal advantage into the second leg at Etihad Stadium
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Your support makes all the difference.Pep Guardiola has warned his Manchester City players to heed the lessons of AC Milan’s 2005 Istanbul capitulation against Liverpool to avoid being embarrassed by Steaua Bucharest in Wednesday’s Champions League Play-Off second-leg.
City have as good as secured their place in Thursday’s draw for the Champions League group stages after cruising to a 5-0 first-leg victory over Steaua in Romania last week.
With such a commanding lead, Guardiola is ready to make changes to his team in order to freshen his squad ahead of Sunday’s Premier League encounter with West Ham United.
But despite the 5-0 advantage, the City manager insists that Liverpool’s success in overhauling a 3-0 half-time deficit to win the Champions League final against Milan eleven years ago should act as a warning that Steaua are capable of producing an incredible upset.
“I have a lot of respect for the opponent and I know what happens in football,” Guardiola said. “Everybody knows it’s not done until it’s done.
“Of course we start 5-0, so it’s almost impossible to be better than that. We are delighted about that.
“But why wouldn’t we respect our opponent and take them seriously? We play to try to win the game.
“I have seen many times in the Champions League, at half-time an experienced team like AC Milan 3-0 ahead and the final is done.
“But Liverpool won the Champions League final. That Milan was Maldini, Cafu, more experienced guys.
“I know we have a huge advantage, but our pre-season was focussed to prepare the team especially for this game, so why would we play thinking it’s done? It’s not done
“It’s 90 minutes with a big advantage, but I said to the players: ‘Sorry guys, we aren’t in the Champions League already. We are almost in the Champions League, but we have to play 90 minutes and respect Steaua Bucharest and play seriously.’
“I don’t like to play the game when people say it’s easy and it’s finished.
“No, a lot can happen. Maybe after 10 minutes there is a red card or a penalty. Anything can happen. So take it seriously and play the game.”
Anything can happen. So take it seriously and play the game.
Guardiola, meanwhile, has defended Raheem Sterling following the winger’s treatment at the hands of rival supporters so far this season.
Sterling, a member of England’s unsuccessful Euro 2016 squad, was loudly booed and jeered by Stoke fans at the Britannia Stadium at the weekend, but Guardiola insists the former Liverpool player should take it as a compliment.
“The fans may boo because they know how good he is,” Guardiola said. “He showed me from the start that he is strong, mentally strong.
“He has just focused on his job, on the game. That’s it.
“When that happens, he is going to do good things for us and the England national team. I’m pretty sure of that.
“Just focus and the people will stop taking about what happened off the pitch, and just talk about what happens on the pitch.
“Everything is going well, I’m pretty sure of that.”
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