“Emotionally, I’m destroyed,” Manchester City Manager Pep Guardiola said to his post match (a resounding 3-0 win over Bayern Munich in the first of their two legged UCL Quarterfinal tie) press conference.
“I have [aged] 10 more years today. It was such a demanding game. Now I have to relax, a day off for the guys, prepare for Leicester [on Saturday].” Pep has just routed one of the previous clubs where he had won tons of silverware in the recent past.
Manchester City vs Leicester City FYIs
Kick-off time: 5:30 PM GMT, 15th April 2023, Etihad Stadium
Transatlantic Passage: How the Premier League Redefined Soccer in America: LINK
Premier League Form Guide: Man City WWWWW Leicester LLLDL
Premier League Position: Man City 2nd, 67 pts Leicester 19th, 25 pts
Google Result Probability: Man City 76% Leicester 9% Draw 15%
Guardiola mentioned looking ahead to the Leicester City match on Saturday, but at the same time, he knows this UCL tie is far from over; despite the 3-0 aggregate lead.
He added: “I know exactly what you have to do there [in Munich]. If you don’t perform really well, they are able to score one, two, three. I know that. The players know that. It’s an incredible result, but we have to do our game with huge, huge personality.”
Man City Team News
Pep’s side emerged unscathed from this match, and their only fitness concern entering the match was Phil Foden, who remains out as he recovers from an appendectomy. In other words, there is no real “team news” so let’s just get to predicting the 3-2-4-1 formation that we might see this weekend.
Manchester City Starting XI Prediction vs Leicester City
Ederson; Akanji, Dias, Ake; Stones, Rodri; Silva, De Bruyne, Alvarez, Grealish; Haaland
Paul M. Banks is the owner/manager of The Sports Bank. He’s also the author of “Transatlantic Passage: How the English Premier League Redefined Soccer in America,” and “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry.”
He’s written for numerous publications, including the New York Daily News, Sports Illustrated and the Chicago Tribune. He regularly appears on NTD News and WGN News Now. Follow the website on Twitter and Instagram.