Guardiola Admits He Has No Antidote To PSG’s Attacking Trident
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has admitted he has no antidote to Paris Saint Germain’s fearsome attacking trident of Lionel Messi, Neymar and Kylian Mbappe.
In a repeat of last season’s UEFA Champions League semi-finals, Manchester City come face-to-face with PSG at the Parc des Princes on Tuesday.
The Citizens emerged victorious over two legs in last season’s encounters but Mauricio Pochettino’s side have bolstered their ranks with the headline signing of Lionel Messi on a free transfer from Barcelona, while the likes of Gianluigi Donnarumma, Sergio Ramos, Georginio Wijnaldum and Achraf Hakimi have all moved to the French capital.
Messi has missed PSG’s last two games because of injury but could return to the starting line-up against the side managed by a man who helped mould him into one of the game’s greats at Barcelona.
"I don't know, with this amount of quality I don't know what we should do to stop them,” Guardiola told reporters when asked how to handle PSG’s attacking trident.
"Honestly, they're so good. This amount of talent altogether to be controlled, it's so difficult. We try to defend well when we don't have the ball and try to let them run when we have the ball.
"They're exceptional players, everyone knows it. Individually they are so good, they can combine and connect with each other.
"The three players up front they can do whatever they want, play wide, narrow, one right and one left, they can combine well and have the quality.
"The talent cannot be stopped — we have to do it as a team. Individually we cannot put the pressure on one player to solve the skills and talents they have.
"We have to be compact, together and help each other, know we are going to suffer and be in pain, and how you handle the pain in these moments…you have to be able to suffer for 90 minutes."
