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  • 29/11/2023
Guardiola on City comeback 3-2 Leipzig win
Transcript
00:00 English-speaking media first please and then move on to anything we have in
00:03 German. Somewhere to start please.
00:06 Pep, congratulations on the fight back tonight and on topping the group for the
00:12 seventh year in a row. How much of an achievement is that for this football club?
00:16 Well if you talk about the qualification, it's a great night. So 15-15.
00:26 Yeah, if you talk about the game, we could do better.
00:34 But yeah, sloppy goals. In football you have to win duels and it was quite
00:44 similar against Chelsea. So we were solid and now it's the two warnings already.
00:51 But the same at front, so we have chances that we miss it. So at the end it's
00:55 both sides but of course when you score it's completely different.
01:00 But maybe for the future it's good to win in that game, not comfortably to
01:05 realise to put in front of the mirror and say we are too better. But in February we'll be
01:11 there, top of the group. I don't know which opponent we're going to face but
01:14 the second leg will be here and show again that we are able to make a comeback.
01:18 When we score early the second half is 45 minutes or so long for the opponents
01:23 and at the end, yeah. It was not easy because they defend really well, they are
01:28 strong German teams, I know perfectly. But yeah, we are there and now we have
01:34 five days. We recover tomorrow, day off and prepare two days for the game against Spurs.
01:39 Do you ever doubt your team once the first goal went in? I think most people in the
01:46 stadium thought City will win.
01:50 I was not sure, to be honest. The way we played in the first half I was not sure.
01:58 Not for the fact that we are City and the last Champions League winner and
02:04 give you for granted. You have to earn it, you have to do it and in the first half
02:08 it was not, even the second some moments, it was not so. There are moments that you
02:12 have to be better. But yeah, we will learn, we will learn hopefully.
02:20 Is that the first half performance tonight, is that a positive from your
02:26 perspective that it came tonight when you were already through, you had already
02:30 qualified? So is it one of those where they can get that sort of performance out of the system?
02:36 I am pretty sure today you have to win the game to qualify. We are not playing the way
02:41 we played, that's for sure. But we talk about the problems we had because we don't
02:49 play against, I know Leipzig, even we won in the past always except last season,
02:55 we won 7-0, the rest always was a tie-tied game, all of them. And always just
03:01 qualify for the Champions League in the last, I don't know, 8-10 years, maybe not
03:08 6-7, always is there in Bundesliga and playing in the Champions League. So young, young players,
03:13 they lost in Lukaku, Guardiola and important players are still there.
03:17 And they have Dani Almo is injured, so they are top, top quality players, so no doubt.
03:25 Super Cup won by Munich 0-3 in the beginning of the season, so I know what I am talking about
03:31 and we talk about that, but you know when you have a long ball you have to win the duel,
03:35 you have to be strong there and we were not. So we made individual mistakes and
03:39 a little bit not sloppy and in that level, that level is no chance. But the reaction was good,
03:48 especially when we scored early and after the impact from Julian and Jeremy was great,
03:53 really great and we could put a winger in the side and Rico helped us to play, when the
04:02 opponent is playing 5-5 in the back he helped us to make what we wanted to do and at the end we
04:08 won the game. Do you have any concern that you have conceded a goal on the break, I think it is
04:16 4-5 Champions League games now, 2 tonight, is it something you maybe need to address more towards
04:23 the latter stages of the tournament? It is not normal to concede four goals in the way we conceded
04:30 against Chelsea and today they conceded, it did not happen last season, that is the truth,
04:34 did not happen. We talk about it, it is football, it is human beings, it happened,
04:41 opponents play too, but we have to improve that otherwise not all the time you can come back there.
04:47 So the decisions, for example against Liverpool were brilliant,
04:54 we were really good against fast, fast players, Liverpool, and we were, mistakes,
05:01 sometimes I had the feeling they were so anxious, so you know the first yellow card from Ruben is
05:10 necessary, put the feet here, so this kind of action, so it is, oh what happened, so we control
05:17 the ball, control the ball, you don't win the duel, you don't know well, but you are there,
05:21 you have to avoid that, and yeah you have to get better, we were lucky, today we were lucky.
05:28 And you spoke about the statue outside at the weekend, now that you have seen it,
05:34 I wonder just what your thoughts are, and I believe you changed the bus route,
05:38 it was slightly different just so the team could see it before they came into the ground?
05:42 Yeah, it was different, I like it, so I encouraged the club to drop us the bus there and we can walk,
05:51 it is nice, so another gesture for the three important, everybody knows here,
05:58 better than me, the guys who, the people who have a long, long time here,
06:02 what does it mean, Colin Baird, Francis Lee and Mike Somerville,
06:04 so it is nice in front of the main entrance for the club, so it is really, really nice,
06:10 congratulations for the idea, for the club, because absolutely they deserve it.
06:17 How disappointed were you at half time and what did you say to them in the break?
06:21 No, it is not about that, it is not about disappointment, it is not about shouting,
06:25 but what we have to do to adjust something in our high pressing, because we,
06:28 I did, first of all I have to admit I didn't expect the play five in the back,
06:32 so a five for one, so I didn't expect it, so that is why you have to change something,
06:38 and our pressing was not good, we adjust something, but the main important thing
06:43 is the first half, second half we score early, and that helps us, absolutely.
06:49 Besides from winning, which is a good thing,
06:52 Erling also reached, he is the fastest one to 40 goals, how impressed are you of him?
06:57 Again? I have to tell you again?
07:01 A thousand times, I am really impressed, from day one until today, another breaker,
07:08 congratulations, he is a fantastic player, so I told you many times, we are really pleased,
07:15 and of course he helped us make a good goal in the first half, always had,
07:20 even if he missed it in the first half, or control, or shoot, always he is there,
07:24 so and how many, you know, two or three times after scoring goals, going back,
07:29 regain the ball, we love him, so it is not just the goals he scored, for many, many other things.
07:37 Anything from German press guys?

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