Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City will have to play a ‘perfect game’ to turn their Champions League quarter-final tie with Liverpool around.
City’s chances of reaching the last four for the second time in their history are slim after failing to score a crucial away goal in last week’s emphatic 3-0 defeat at Anfield.
Guardiola’s side will also have to overcome the disappointment of failing to seal the Premier League title against rivals Manchester United on Saturday, having let a 2-0 slip to lose 3-2.
Combined XI: Liverpool vs Manchester City
History is not on City’s side, either. Only two teams have ever overturned a first-leg deficit of three goals or more to progress in the Champions League era – Deportivo La Coruna’s 5-4 aggregate defeat of Milan in 2004 and Barcelona’s remontada against Paris Saint-Germain last year.
Guardiola, however, is confident that his “extraordinary” team, so dominant domestically this year, is capable of what would be a remarkable comeback.
“Of course to go through, you have to make the perfect game,” the City manager said on Tuesday. “Create chances, be clinical, concede few chances – all the conditions have to be perfect.
“The result is tough, but we have 90 minutes and in football, everything can happen. What we are going to do is try.
“We don’t need to talk about motivation,” he added. “The way they play in every game shows what they want to do. My team is extraordinary, not comparable to many others.
“I will be close to them no matter what happens between now and the end of the season. It’s a joy to be manager of them.”
Ahead of meeting five-time European Cup winners Liverpool, Guardiola knows that City need to establish a pedigree of their own in this competition and he believes a comeback on Tuesday night can provide a memorable starting point.
“We need titles in Europe – it’s complicated but you need nights that make you understand it. Beating Barcelona [a 3-1 group stage win at the Etihad in November 2016] was so special because we know they’re the best team in the world.
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“It will happen sooner or later. What this club has done in the last 10 years in terms of creating facilities and making it bigger, it will happen.
“[To compete with] the big clubs you need time but hopefully we can do it. Maybe next year but sooner it will happen.”
When asked whether Saturday's derby defeat could have a psychological effect on his side, Guardiola said: “I don’t know, 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. We have 90 minutes plus extra time and what we have shown this year – even in the last game – we can create a lot of chances in the last few minutes.”
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