Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City face a stiff test of character against a Bayern Munich side whose defiance he says is "in their skin".
Although City lead 3-0 from the first leg of the Champions League quarter-final, Guardiola claims his side will on Wednesday be facing a Bayern team who firmly believe they can turn the tie around.
City have looked to have ties wrapped up before and then imploded, most recently in last season's semi-finals when they led Real Madrid 5-3 on aggregate as stoppage time approached in the second leg, only to still be knocked out.
Asked whether he was more confident than before in his group of players getting the job done, Guardiola said on Tuesday: "I would like to say yes, but I don't know. Every game is completely different.
"I didn't say to the team to be careful with Bayern Munich, how difficult they are. They are not relaxed because they felt it, they know it, how good the [Bayern] team is.
"The opponent has many, many weapons, and that's why you have to be yourself. What do you have to do to achieve it? Be ourselves as much as possible."
Guardiola said City were "here for business" and confirmed Phil Foden would be a substitute on his return from appendicitis.
The Catalan coach is on the brink of personal history, being one away from reaching 100 wins in the Champions League, a feat only previously achieved by Carlo Ancelotti (105) and Alex Ferguson (102).
Should be complete that century on Wednesday, it would have come in just 158 games, with Ancelotti having needed 180 games and Ferguson 184.
Guardiola said City had not come to Munich to sit on their lead, but as and when the circumstances demand it, they will dig in defensively.
"I don't understand the situation of coming here just to defend something," said Guardiola, who coached Bayern from 2013 to 2016. "We come here to play one football game. If you think about just the result and what you have to do, or what we have done in the past, it would be a big mistake for us.
"We are going to defend, for sure. It happened in Manchester. For part of the game, they were better, and we had to defend, and we're going to defend tomorrow.
"For us, it's an opportunity. You see the [Bayern] trophy cabinet and how many times they have played this type of game in their incredible history, it is a lot.
"We are a few. We're going to try to impose our game. We come here knowing the quality they have, adapt quick to maybe some new formation of the opponent, and do our game.
"We talk about the game we have to play and not talk about the result we had one week ago. It's what you have to do in the game and focus in every single action to do what you have to do to get the result as best as possible to reach the semi-final."
Guardiola suspects Thomas Tuchel and Bayern will be saying much the same thing.
"I've been here at Bayern Munich and know the mentality of this club," Guardiola said. "It's everywhere: it's in [the club's HQ at] Sabener Strasse, it's in their skin.
"I know they believe they can do it, and we believe, too."
Guardiola expects Bayern's Thomas Muller to start, having only been a substitute in the first leg.
Should that be the case, City captain Ilkay Gundogan will be among those keeping a close eye on the man who can make Bayern tick, whom he knows well from their time together in Germany's midfield.
Gundogan's City future remains in the balance, with his contract expiring at the end of June, and the 32-year-old could offer no guidance on whether he will be staying in Manchester.
"There are talks. Obviously there are talks in the background. That's quite normal with just a couple of months left," Gundogan said. "Before going too much into details, there is nothing decided yet, not from my side and not from the club's side."
The skipper was delighted to hear Guardiola wants him to stay, saying: "I appreciate it a lot. We've been together seven years, and it's been amazing. We've won a lot together and to hear things like that brings me joy, brings me a smile and makes me appreciate what I've done in the seven years."
City have only lost one of their last 20 matches against German teams in the Champions League (W16 D3), losing away to RB Leipzig in the 2021-22 group stage.
They are unbeaten in their nine games against German sides in the knockout stages of the competition (W8 D1), although Bayern have only lost both legs of a Champions League knockout tie twice before, and both times it came against Real Madrid – in the 2013-14 semi-finals and the 2016-17 quarter-finals.
Their heaviest aggregate defeat was in the first of those ties, losing 5-0 against the Spanish side when Guardiola was Bayern head coach.
Leverkusen star Wirtz named Bundesliga Player of the Year
Florian Wirtz played a starring role for Bayer Leverkusen this season and has been named the Bundesliga Player of the Year.
Wirtz scored 11 goals and provided a further 11 assists on the way to helping Leverkusen win their first-ever top-flight title.
The forward was pivotal in Leverkusen’s title charge as they became the first German team to complete an unbeaten season.
Only Victor Boniface has scored more goals than Wirtz this campaign, netting 14 times, while his tally of 11 assists is second only to Alejandro Grimaldo (13) across the Bundesliga.
Wirtz came off the bench to score a hat-trick in Leverkusen’s 5-0 win over Werder Bremen in April which clinched the title with five games remaining.
The Bundesliga champions still have the German Cup final on Saturday against Kaiserslautern, which follows the Europa League final against Atalanta on Wednesday.
Wirtz played a critical role in helping Leverkusen reach their third European final, having been involved in eight goals in the Europa League this season (four goals, four assists), the most of any player in the team.
He has also created 28 chances from open play in the competition, a tally only five players can better in a Europa League campaign, most recently Amin Younes for Ajax in 2016-17 (30).
In all competitions, Leverkusen’s unbeaten run stretches to 51 matches, as they aim to finish an unbeaten season with a treble.
Kane injury doubt for England Euro 2024 squad
Harry Kane may be a doubt for England’s Euro 2024 squad as he continues to struggle with a back problem.
Gareth Southgate is due to name his preliminary squad for Euro 2024 on Tuesday, ahead of upcoming friendlies against Bosnia and Herzegovina and Iceland.
The England captain missed the final two Bundesliga games of the season after going off towards the end of Bayern Munich’s Champions League semi-final second leg against Real Madrid.
Thomas Tuchel confirmed prior to their final match against Hoffenheim that Kane was back in England to undergo treatment.
When later asked again about the nature of the striker’s injury, Tuchel admitted that Kane had been struggling for a couple of weeks.
"In Madrid, it was borderline. We tried injections and treatments. The back has completely closed.
"It has gotten worse and kept breaking out in small, everyday movements. There's no chance he's even training."
Kane scored 36 league goals in his debut campaign for Bayern, though due to the injury, he finished five adrift of Robert Lewandowski’s single-season goal record of 41, set in 2019-20.
The final announcement of Southgate's 26-man squad will be revealed on June 7, ahead of the tournament opener against Serbia on June 16.
Pochettino prioritising continuity as Chelsea draw up transfer plans
Mauricio Pochettino feels continuity will be key for Chelsea ahead of his second season in charge, ruling out the prospect of another clear-out at Stamford Bridge.
Chelsea clinched European qualification on the final day of the Premier League season on Sunday, a 2-1 win over Bournemouth ensuring they beat Newcastle United and Manchester United to sixth place.
The Blues finished the campaign with five straight victories, the first time they have achieved that feat since doing so in March 2022 under Thomas Tuchel.
A positive end to Pochettino's debut campaign has quietened talk of his job being under threat, and he wants to see evolution rather than revolution ahead of 2024-25.
"Does the club need new signings? Always, you can improve," Pochettino said after Sunday's victory.
"They are going to be much better next season because they will have one year of experience, a tough experience.
"That is the advantage of being solid and consistent and not making too many changes.
"Next season, if we keep 80 to 85 per cent of the squad, for sure it is a big step forward because it is about having continuity in the ideas and the knowledge between them. That is important for the club.
"That is a club decision. Like it was from the beginning, we [the coaching staff] are going to be there to help and if not, we are going to do our job."
Chelsea only lost one of their final 15 matches of the Premier League season (nine wins, five draws), with that defeat coming by a 5-0 scoreline at Arsenal in April.
Only Manchester City, Arsenal (16 each) and Liverpool (12) won more Premier League games than Chelsea's 10 between the turn of the year and the end of the campaign, with their total of 43 goals in that time ranking them fifth among all teams in the division.
Chelsea's overall tally of 77 goals in 2023-24 was their third-most in a Premier League season, behind only their title-winning campaigns of 2009-10 (103) and 2016-17 (85).
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