"I want to win, but if I don't, it will not change my life"

Manchester City were victorious away from home against Everton after a 1-3 win on Saturday 28th September. Another victory for Pep Guardiola's team, who are 2nd place in the Premier League with 16 points.

But the English team have already changed things up to focus all their attention on the next Champions League game on Wednesday, where they will face Dinamo Zaghreb.

In the press conference, the Catalan coach was asked about the conquering of the Europa Cup, one of the most prestigious titles in history, but Guardiola was more than convincing with his answer.

"I want to win the Champions League, but if I don't do it, it will not change my life. I am not going to lose any sleep over it. I would be happier, but nothing would change in my private life," the coach commented.

Everybody knows that Pep won the Champions League twice with Barcelona, but has not been able to do so with Bayern Munich, or with Manchester City.

The City coach therefore made it clear that he is not obsessed with the the title: "It's impossible to play and to do so without wanting to win. We tried the first season, we tried the second season when we were up for four competitions".

In addition, he made it clear that European success is the next step for the club, who have dominated the Premier League for the last few campaigns: "Yes, definitely, but sometimes you cannot win, or you don't perform well".

"It is not going to change my life if I don't win the Champions League".

He added; "I have always said it: Barcelona, which is my club, did not win it until 1992 and the club had been around much earlier than that, but in this competition, things don't always go your way. Many things are influenced. As always, we are going to try, but if it does not happen, then what is going to happen? It's not going to change my life."

We know that Manchester City fans would prefer to win their third Premier League than a Champions League. That's a fact. The only thing we can do to convince them is to play better every day and they want to come see us, because this team is fantastic," continued the City coach.

"The important games, the decisions, many games, the influence. But I'm sorry, I'm not going to live the next 10 months thinking if I don’t win the Champions League it would be a disaster, because my life is quite good."

Regarding his opponents, Pep stated: "I don't know how they will perform, if they will play with five defenders or with four. We are going to prepare for every situation. They are a very agressive team, especially in midfield and they are rapid on the counter. The result of the first game against Atalanta was a warning for us". 

Player by player

Guardiola also had time to talk about Dani Olmo: "Dani Olmo was in the academy of Barca a long time ago, which means he has to have something special. Of course, he has a special talent. He had the courage to go to Croatia when he was young , and I'm glad for him and the results he's getting."

About Rodri, he commented: "When he arrived here he had already been trained by a manager like Simeone, so he already had some previous knowledge. But it is clear that we always try to help players as best we can."

Guardiola also announced the possibility that Eric Garcia and Taylor Bellis have minutes: "Eric and Taylor can play, they can have minutes and they know it. We can count on them if we need them. If not, they wouldn't be with us."

Finally, Pep talked about Mahrez's great moment: "Mahrez will be very important, of course. All the players we have here want us to be. Now he is decisive, his offensive and defensive work is still very good and hopefully he can continue like this longer. "