London: Pep Guardiola has told his Manchester City stars to use their Champions League pain and they will eventually “get what they deserve”. City are yet to make the last four in Europe under Guardiola but are in the FA Cup final and remain favourites to retain the Premier League. Guardiola revealed his players were upset at the circumstances as they went out to Tottenham on away goals but he believes they need to harness that.
“I don’t want the players to forget what they lived,” Guardiola was qouted as saying by the Dailymail ahead of Saturday’s showdown with Spurs. “Don’t forget Wednesday because we are human beings. It’s nice. What we lived on Wednesday in terms of emotion was incredible. We were unlucky to live it. “It’ll remain in our hearts. I don’t want to see my players saying “it doesn’t matter what happened”.
“It will be on our minds but looking back it will help us to move forward. A tough night but the day after we move forward.
‘These players have the opportunity to show they can do that. They can get back what they deserve, this season or next or three or four years. They will be in the same position and they’ll be luckier and go to the next stages.”
Guardiola rejected the suggestion that missing out on the semi-final with Ajax will help City in their bid to become the first team in a decade to defend a league title. “They (Liverpool) went out (of the Carabao and FA Cup) early, I think that was an advantage for them,” he added. “Going out now doesn’t have an influence. We didn’t have time to prepare for specific things against Tottenham. But it’s because we’re in all competitions. If we were out of the FA Cup we’d have more time.”
