Manchester: Premier League winner Manchester City will be facing Inter Milan in their opening Champions League game on Thursday (IST) in what will be a rematch of the 2023 UCL Final which saw City win their first-ever European title.
Guardiola believes his team knows what they have to do to get past the Italian champions.
“I said in the days before the final, I remember how tough the opponent [was], and now the people believe me more. People need to see how strong they are but this is not a final now, it’s a game at home. We are not going to go to Milan, it’s completely different and with our people, our games at home, we’ll try to do it I think they ( City) have to know what they have to do, the way [Inter] attack is so difficult to control,” said Guardiola in the pre-match conference.
Manchester City are in scintillating form so far this season. They have won their opening four Premier League encounters and have scored 11 goals whilst conceding only three. A lot of that stat can be attributed to striker Erling Haaland who has already scored nine goals in the opening four games. The Norwegian forward is one goal away from reaching the 100-goal milestone for his club.
“If you examine the next 100 games and he scored 99 goals for me it’s fine. Don’t improve, don’t improve. Score in the next 100 games 99 goals, I will be more than delighted. I played 11 years as a professional football player, I scored 11 goals,” he added.
Manchester City will host Inter Milan at the Etihad Stadium and will be hoping to win the game with comfort before they turn their attention to Premier League title contenders Arsenal who will be travelling to Manchester on Sunday.
-IANS