Man City vs. Liverpool: Pep Guardiola seeks the ‘perfect game’

It was only a few weeks ago that Pep Guardiola was deflecting press talk of a ‘quadruple’ but now his Manchester City side are in danger of finishing the season with a second-rate league and cup domestic double. 

The League Cup is already banked, and despite Saturday’s 3-2 defeat at home to Manchester United, the Sky Blues will be crowned Premier League champions before too long. But their FA Cup dreams were ended by Wigan and now barring a spectacular comeback tonight against Liverpool they will end the season reflecting on another Champions League campaign that went horribly wrong.

Last Wednesday’s 3-0 defeat at Anfield in the first leg of their quarter-final was easily the most surprising scoreline in English football this season. City just weren’t at the races, ripped apart by a Liverpool side who are now poised to reach their first Champions League semi-final for ten years.

Can City turn it around at the Etihad? Only if they produce what Guardiola described as “the perfect game” at the pre-match press conference.

“The only way to play good football is to be positive,” he said. “To go through you have to make the perfect game, create chances and concede few chances. The chances we receive, we have to defend well. We have 90 minutes and anything can happen. All we are going to do is try.”

Last week’s first-leg shellacking at Anfield was preceded by ugly scenes outside the ground when the City bus was attacked by Liverpool fans; neither Guardiola nor his players tried to use that unsettling incident as an excuse for their limp performance, and judging by their 3-2 defeat to United on Saturday there is clearly something not right with City.

It may be fatigue, coupled with the pressure of the business end of the season, enabling self-doubt to seep into hitherto confident minds.

“I don’t know,” was Guardiola’s honest reply when asked if he thought his squad was in need of some mental strengthening. “But if we are not able to cope with that psychologically, it will be a good lesson for the future. It is a test. Football, like life, is a challenge.”

A test it is, and one that will be watched with interest by City’s rivals. It may be too late to catch them in this season’s Premier League race but Liverpool have shown twice in recent months that City can be quickly unsettled by a well-organised side who presses them, and then hits them on the counter-attack with pace.

Their aura of invincibility, so carefully cultivated in the first two-thirds of the season is in danger of being shattered, and they will give their Premier League rivals heart for next season.

Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp agreed that his side had shown that City are not supermen but rather “human beings”. Nonetheless, complacency could be Liverpool’s greatest opponent at the Etihad this evening.

“We are not thinking about who is favourite,” he said. “It is better than I expected but you all know there is still a lot of work to do… we have to be at our best.”

There was the inevitable question about Mohamed Salah, Liverpool’s talisman this season, who limped off early in the second-half last week and then sat out the Merseyside derby on Saturday.

“Not sure,” replied Klopp, when asked if the Egyptian would start the second leg. “At 5pm [Monday] we train at Melwood and we will see if he can be part of the training… then we have to wait for the reaction and then we will make a decision.”

Manchester City vs. Liverpool (aggregate 0-3)

• When: tonight 
• Where: Etihad Stadium 
• Kick-off time: 7.45pm 
• TV channel: live on BT Sport 2 
• Team news: in his pre-match press conference Liverpool boss Jurgen Klopp said he was unsure if star striker Mohamed Salah would be fit to face City, while Andy Robertson (calf) and Alberto Moreno (thigh) are also injury doubts. Reds skipper Jordan Henderson will definitely miss the Etihad clash because of his suspension. According to the BBC defenders John Stones and Danilo missed the open section of City’s training session yesterday.