Pep Guardiola insists tiredness is NOT an excuse for Man City

Pep Guardiola ridiculed the idea that he and his players could point to tiredness amid such a hectic period as insisted his Man City stars must feel ‘grateful’ to still be fighting for a treble.

City head to Madrid for the second leg of their Champions League quarter-final tie against Atletico on Wednesday, just days on from a thrilling top-of-the-table Premier League clash with Liverpool.

Once events in Madrid have been taken care of, Guardiola’s players will shift their focus to Saturday night when they face Liverpool in an FA Cup semi-final.

But the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich manager is in no mood to pin any slip-ups on tiredness.    

‘You have to be grateful to be here,’ he said. 

‘This game, the next one, the next one, it is because what we have done so far is good. 

‘In this moment you are not tired. You can lose because you produce a bad performance or the opponent is better than you but not because you’re tired. It doesn’t exist.’

City head to Atletico’s Wanda Metropolitano stadium with a slender 1-0 lead from the first leg in Manchester.

Talisman Kevin De Bruyne got the only goal of the game but Guardiola believes his side will face a different proposition against this resolute Atletico side on the road. 

‘We travel [to Atletico Madrid] with a good result, with the intention to win,’ he said.

‘We try to see the score in the last 5-10 minutes what it is. It will be slightly different, they are at home, they create momentums and there will be moments where they will be aggressive, be higher and we need to adapt and defend in those moments.’

More to follow.