Manchester, July 20 (IANS) Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has urged his players to increase their standards in the upcoming days if they want to progress into the next round of the UEFA Champions League at the expense of Real Madrid.
City saw their hopes of a treble vanish in thin air as they were stunned 0-2 in the FA Cup semi-final by Arsenal on Saturday. Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang scored a brace as City failed to unlock Mikel Arteta’s air-tight defence at Wembley Stadium.
“I don’t have to tell them. They have to know it because we know the standards that we have to be at these kinds of stages and competitions,” Guardiola told reporters as per mirror.co.uk.
“Maybe we will learn and maybe not. We will see. We struggled to play at our level and we know it. You don’t have to be a genius to realise we have to increase our standard against (Real) Madrid if we want to have any chance to go through.”
After watching Liverpool clinch the Premier League title and crashing out of FA Cup, City’s hopes of adding a silverware to their already-won Carabao Cup now rests entirely on Champions League.
City currently hold the edge over Real as they had beaten the recently-crowned LaLiga champions 2-1 at Santiago Bernabeu in the first leg of Round of 16 clash before the tournament was postponed due to coronavirus pandemic.
“We have two weeks and we want to play the final (of the Champions League). We want to be in rhythm. It is the last opportunity we have to go through,” Guardiola said.
–IANS
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