Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has said there’ll be no underestimating Champions League round 16 opponents RB Leipzig.
City are in Germany for the first-leg.
“Right after the draw I knew it, I felt it, they would be really tough,” Guardiola said. “For many years this club has its own culture, with young players and their recruitment, with physicality and a clear pattern to play.
“With German football, they make the transitions that are unstoppable. We have huge respect for what this club has done. Last season we won at home but struggled with Nkunku.”
That praise for Marco Rose’s team could be seen as playing down expectations, which Guardiola has had a habit of during his seven years in charge. Yet the 52-year-old has reached a point of realisation now that nothing he says will ever have that effect when it comes to the perception of this club and his own career.
“I would say that if my career finishes tomorrow, literally tomorrow, I would be more than blessed and grateful for what I have done with Barcelona, Bayern Munich and here,” he added. “I could never have expected to have the career I have had in a short time. Not just for the success we had, but also the way we play – I love it. I could not ask for more.
“At the end, destiny is already written. Sometimes we have been close, sometimes not. I have the feeling that what we have done, all of us, is going to fail. Whatever I have done personally in the past or in the future, I am going to fail. Nothing will be enough [for critics].
“So when I learned that, just have fun, enjoy being in this press conference, then after a nice dinner with good wine and watch Real Madrid and Liverpool and a little bit of Napoli, prepare well for the game and let’s go guys, let’s try to do it again.”