Chelsea vs Man City: Champions League final won’t be just about tactics – Guardiola

MANCHESTER City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted that Saturday’s UEFA Champions League final between his side and Chelsea will be decided by factors other than tactics.
Guardiola and his Chelsea counterpart Thomas Tuchel have built reputations as tactical masterminds, but the Spaniard sees a fierce battle ahead in Porto, Portugal that will involve a combination of different elements of the game.

“Strong organisation, a lot of investment, a lot of quality players, good fans, good backroom staff, a team with the principles to [be successful]: these are the most important ones,” Guardiola said at his pre-match press conference on Friday when asked about his guiding principles.

“But you always have to take a look at the players that you have because if the players don’t adjust or adapt to the principles or the way you want to play, it’s more difficult.

“Some things come from where I was born: Barcelona. You know, trying to have a living role in the game, playing [in the opponents’ half], and trying to win the game.

There are no more secrets than that. It’s [about] the quality of the players, trying to understand their skills, creating a good environment and a good mood, because football is not just tactics; it’s emotions and relations between the lads and even with the backroom staff.

“This is the most important thing for a team to last for a long time, which has happened here (at City) for five years.”

Both Guardiola and Tuchel have clashed several times both in Germany and in England, and the coaches have formed a friendship off the pitch.

But Guardiola’s only focus on Saturday is winning.

.”With football, one of the nicest things is talking about it. There’s watching and training and, after that, there’s talk,” the former Bayern Munich manager noted.

“I would say I learn a lot from Thomas; I learned a lot watching his teams, with our conversations. It doesn’t matter if he has a lot of info about us or about me because, in the end, luckily for world football, he cannot play, I cannot play. So, in the end, the guys who are going to decide the final will be the players.

“I have a lot of respect [for him]; I think he is an exceptional, exceptional manager. And that’s all. So of course I want to beat him, like I guess he wants to beat me.”

When asked about his proudest City achievement, Guardiola mentioned his three Premier League titles in five years at the club.

He said: “Titles are the consequence of many, many things. The most important thing is that, always, I am a spectator, not just a manager, and, when I am sitting on the bench, I want to see the team play the way we like.

People, a long time ago, said: ‘It’s not possible to play in this way in this country.’ We did it. It’s our way, we decided to do it from day one, and we accomplished it.”

The only trophy City have not won in Guardiola’s time in England is the Champions League and he is eager to complete the set on Saturday.

“We’ve won a lot of Premier Leagues in this short time and, finally we achieved the next step in Europe at this club, and hopefully, we [will not] tremble, and we can be sure we can do well in the final,” he offered.

“I don’t think we are much, much, much better than the previous season when we were not able to [get to the final]. Maybe the desire was higher because we thought ‘OK, this time, let’s go, try again, try again, try again.’ At the end, the coin, [landed on] our side.”

This is Manchester City’s first Champions League final and Guardiola’s third, after wins over Manchester United in 2009 and 2011 with Barcelona.

It is Chelsea’s third final, with the London club losing to Manchester United in 2008 and beating Bayern Munich in 2012, both times on penalties.