Guardiola will stick to playing style in spite of hefty Barcelona loss
NAN-S-7
Guardiola
London, Oct 20, 2016 (dpa/NAN) Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola said his side’s 4-0 Champions League defeat at Barcelona will not have any impact on his style of play.
Guardiola has instilled in his City side the same kind of style he used to great success at both Barcelona and Bayern Munich, which includes asking the goalkeeper to pass the ball instead of kicking long.
City goalkeeper Claudio Bravo was sent off for handball early in the match, having tried to play the ball out of defence rather than clearing his lines.
A hat-trick from Lionel Messi, the 37th of his Barcelona career, helped the Catalan side easy to victory but Guardiola said he would always play the same way.
“There will be no change,’’ he said. “Until the last day of my career as a coach I will try to play from our keeper.
“Sometimes there are mistakes and sometimes you have to kick the ball out, but most of the time, when we play good, it starts from there.’’
Guardiola refused to blame Bravo for his error but said City were still a work in progress at Champions League level.
“We lost the game 4-0, but we are a new club, we are getting to know each other,’’ he said. “We are a club that for 35 years was not in Europe.
“We came here and played with huge personality but it is always difficult to play Barcelona with 11. With 10 the game was over. Until then the game was open.’’ (dpa/NAN)
TON
===