MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola has declared that his side have no choice but to recover from their midweek disappointment before facing Chelsea in the FA Cup semi-final tomorrow.
The Premier League champions were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League on penalties by Real Madrid on Wednesday night, joining their fellow English club Arsenal out of the competition.
The defeat means City cannot repeat last season’s Treble but they are still in the running for the Premier League title and the FA Cup trophy, facing in-form Chelsea at Wembley tomorrow for a place in the latter’s final.
“We don’t have an option [but to bounce back], we don’t want to feel sorry for ourselves. We performed at our best but were not able to win,” Guardiola said today during his pre-match press conference, referring to the Champions League exit.
“We don’t have time to reflect; we’ll do that in the summertime. In football you compete to win, but sometimes you lose games, and that’s what happened.”
Former Manchester City player Cole Palmer will be Chelsea’s key man tomorrow, and Guardiola revealed that he was unable to stop the England forward from leaving last summer.
“He was asking for two seasons to leave Man City. I said: stay. He wanted to leave. What can we do?!” Guardiola explained.
“He’s an exceptional player with super potential…I didn’t give him the minutes he deserves that he now has at Chelsea.”
Palmer has become Chelsea’s best player in his first season at the club, scoring 20 Premier League goals despite their lowly ninth placing.
