AFP – Pep Guardiola insisted Manchester City will rise to the occasion in their crucial Champions League showdown against Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) after rebuilding their shattered morale with a 6-0 demolition of Ipswich.
Guardiola’s side are languishing in 22nd place in the 36-team Champions League table with two games left.
PSG are in even worse shape, one point behind City in 25th place.
With the top 24 clubs going through to the knockout stages – the first eight automatically reach the last 16 and the sides from ninth to 24th face a play-off – the stakes could not be higher when City travel to Paris tomorrow.
Fortunately for City, they were able to warm up for the blockbuster clash by recording their biggest Premier League win since thrashing Nottingham Forest by the same scoreline in 2022.
Phil Foden scored twice, while Mateo Kovacic, Erling Haaland, Jeremy Doku and James McAtee were also on target at Portman Road on Sunday.
Such was their dominance, Guardiola was able to replace Foden, Haaland, Kovacic, Kevin De Bruyne and Manuel Akanji in the second half to keep them fresh for the PSG game.
“After four or five nil I had my eye on Paris,” Guardiola said.
“We have two finals left, by winning two we qualify, winning one there’s a big possibility.
“We have to get the points because we created problems ourselves, especially with Feyenoord, even the game we lost in Lisbon.
“But in that moment we had a lot of problems. We could not compete the way we want for many reasons. Hopefully we can continue in Paris for the next game.”
After winning the Champions League for the first time in 2023, City bowed out in the quarter-finals on penalties against Real Madrid last season. In keeping with a turbulent season that sees them trailing 12 points behind Premier League leaders Liverpool, Guardiola’s men have endured another rollercoaster ride in Europe this term.
A woeful 4-1 defeat at Sporting Lisbon, a 3-3 draw with Feyenoord – in which they blew a three-goal lead in the closing minutes – and a 2-0 loss at Juventus have left them clinging to a top-24 place by their fingernails.
City’s steep decline has been a huge shock after four successive Premier League titles and six in the last seven seasons.
Guardiola has appeared drained and depressed by City’s struggles, at a loss to solve the problems that have beset his team. But he claimed their swaggering win at lowly Ipswich showed they are finally approaching peak form at last.
