Pep Guardiola dismissed the possibility of Manchester City winning a treble this season as "fairy tales" as he hailed Scott Carson as an inspiration to his young stars.
Veteran former England goalkeeper Carson made just his second appearance in almost three years for City as he came off the bench against Sporting CP in the Champions League on Wednesday.
City's goalless draw completed a 5-0 aggregate win over the Portuguese giants after the thumping win in Lisbon three weeks earlier, and that has only served to ramp up talk of a possible sweep of the Premier League, FA Cup and Champions League titles.
Leading the English top flight and through to quarter-finals in the two knockout competitions, it is a rosy picture for City with three shots at silverware remaining.
Asked about that prospect in a news conference on Thursday, Guardiola said: "It doesn't motivate me, absolutely zero, lower than zero. It is fairy tales.
"The reality is tougher than you suggest with this kind of things. You should understand sport at a high level is so competitive, so difficult.
"What I'm happy with is we are in the quarter-finals, the best eight teams in Europe. It will be so tough, the opponent we are going to face, and I guess for the opponent it will be tough to face us.
"Step-by-step, we now recover and increase and improve our level and at the end, we will see."
Guardiola handed Champions League debuts to teenagers CJ Egan-Riley, James McAtee and Luke Mbete, while Fernandinho made his 100th appearance in the competition, the fourth Brazilian to reach that mark, following in the footsteps of Roberto Carlos (120), Dani Alves (111) and Marcelo (101).
The youngsters that City hope to keep bringing through from their academy, in the manner that Guardiola's former club Barcelona have cultivated youth talent down the years, have plenty of international stars to admire.
Guardiola made a point that 36-year-old Carson should be the player they watch, to learn how he values every moment of his City career.
"One of the best advice I could give to young players is stay around Scott Carson as much as possible in the locker room and on the pitch," Guardiola said.
"It's the best advice they can get, the best learnings they can get. You have to be there to know him. He's experienced enough, he lived many, many things."
Carson's surprise and popular cameo against Sporting gave him just a second appearance in the Champions League, a full 16 years and 338 days after he played for Liverpool against Juventus as a 19-year-old. That made it the largest gap between appearances for any player in the competition's history, and Carson pulled off a fine stop to stave off a possible home defeat.
"He's at the end of his career, so every second he's training and every minute he gets on the pitch and off the field in the locker room, he values it," Guardiola said.
"It's like young actors need to be with old actors on the set. They are wiser, and they have the values in the football profession."
Howe: Newcastle performance in Palace defeat 'way off' Spurs win
Eddie Howe admitted Newcastle United's performance in the 2-0 loss at Crystal Palace on Wednesday was "way off" the one that saw them thump Tottenham in their previous game.
Howe's men hammered Spurs 4-0 in their last match, but they never got close to matching the attacking verve from that outing and a Jean-Philippe Mateta double condemned the Magpies to defeat at Selhurst Park.
Newcastle didn't even manage a shot on target until the 87th minute, accumulating just 0.42 xG (expected goals) as the likes of Alexander Isak and Anthony Gordon struggled to make an impact.
Only against Manchester City in August (one) have Newcastle recorded fewer shots on target in a Premier League game this season than their two against Palace, and Howe was critical of his team's display in the loss, one that all but ends their hopes of finishing in the top four.
"[It is a] bad day for us," Howe told Newcastle's club media.
"I thought we were disappointing today, especially in the first 60 minutes. We were way off our levels against Tottenham and our best levels.
"I thought technically we didn't deliver a good performance, and out of possession I don't think it was a particularly good performance either."
Newcastle were unlocked twice for Mateta to score by a Palace side who themselves only generated 0.88 xG.
Howe was left frustrated by the manner in which his side conceded, adding: "I think we'll be disappointed with our performance technically today, and that's probably epitomised by the two goals where we're disappointed with how we've given them the ball in those situations and then how we defended.
"I think the goals sum up aspects of our performance where there was some good, lots of moments that could have led to opportunities, but we were slow to shoot around the box," he said.
The defeat, combined with Manchester United's 4-2 win over Sheffield United, means Newcastle drop to seventh, while eighth-placed West Ham are two points behind with a game in hand.
Newcastle have now lost eight of their last 11 Premier League away games, while they have lost on four occasions in London in the league this term, only doing so more times in a Premier League season in 2000-01 and 2005-06 (both five).
It's been a disappointing season for Howe and his side, especially compared to the heroics of last term when Newcastle finished in the top four, and the Magpies boss knows there's work to be done to get back to those levels.
"It's a day that we have to take our punishment, deal with it, and then try and improve," Howe continued. "It's frustrating because we know we're capable of much better."
Crystal Palace 2-0 Newcastle United: Eagles' late-season flourish continues
Crystal Palace made it three straight Premier League wins as a Jean-Philippe Mateta double earned them a 2-0 win over Newcastle United at Selhurst Park.
Palace had not scored in their last four Premier League matches against Newcastle before Wednesday's game, and it looked like the Magpies could stifle them again.
But after the hosts failed to break the deadlock in a Palace-dominated first half, a neat one-two with Jordan Ayew allowed Mateta to lash the Eagles in front before he added another late on to make sure of the three points.
Oliver Glasner's impressive start as Palace head coach continues with the Eagles' safety from relegation now mathematically confirmed in 14th, while Eddie Howe's side drop below Manchester United into seventh place.
Eberechi Eze nearly put Palace ahead after 12 minutes when he jinked onto his right foot and fired just wide, while Mateta nodded narrowly over as the hosts edged the opening exchanges.
Ayew sent an ambitious long-range effort past the post, while Palace shouts for a penalty fell on deaf ears when Eze took a tumble in the box.
Neither side could find the opener in the first half, but the hosts made their threat pay 10 minutes after the restart as Mateta latched onto Ayew's neat first-time pass before firing into the back of the net.
Mateta nodded straight at Martin Dubravka, while Will Hughes curled just over with Newcastle forced to cling on for long periods of the second half.
Palace survived a scare of their own when Hughes' tug on Sean Longstaff in the Eagles' box went unpunished, before Mateta made the points safe with two minutes left when he drilled through the legs of Dubravka to secure the hosts' survival.
Mateta on fire
Mateta's goalscoring record since arriving at Palace from Mainz has not always been impressive, but he is certainly in the groove at the moment in front of goal.
The forward has now scored eight Premier League goals in nine games under Glasner, who only arrived in February. That is more than he managed under both Roy Hodgson (five in 35 games) and Patrick Vieira (six in 44).
This is by far Mateta’s best scoring run in an Eagles shirt, and his all-round performance was impressive too, leading Palace to victory.
Newcastle never get going
Having hammered top-four chasing Tottenham 4-0 last time out, Newcastle looked a shell of that team in South London, failing to test Dean Henderson between the Palace sticks until the 86th minute.
Any slender hopes of repeating last season's heroics of finishing in the Champions League spots are surely over after their fourth defeat in six Premier League games in London this season.
Newcastle star man Alexander Isak was barely involved, recording only one shot and accumulating just 0.06 xG (expected goals) as Palace successfully kept the Sweden international quiet.
Xavi commits U-turn and elects to stay at Barcelona
Barcelona head coach Xavi will continue in his role next season after an unexpected reversal of his decision to leave at the end of the 2023-24 campaign, according to widespread reports.
The former Barcelona midfielder announced in January that he would walk away from the job at the end of the current season, even though his contract was due to run until the end of the following term.
Xavi acknowledged the Barcelona role had taken its toll but reportedly changed his plans after a meeting with Blaugrana president Joan Laporta on Wednesday.
The 44-year-old was initially appointed as Barca coach in 2021 before leading the LaLiga giants to the top-flight title in the 2022-23 campaign.
Xavi's initial announcement of his intentions to depart Barcelona came after a tough period following defeats to Girona, Real Madrid and Athletic Club before revealing the news in the aftermath of a 5-3 loss to Villarreal.
The Blaugrana turned their fortunes around after that decision became public, though, going 13 games unbeaten across all competitions.
Unsurprisingly, that run encouraged Laporta, vice president Rafa Yuste and sporting director Deco to plead with Xavi to continue until the end of his agreed contract.
Though that undefeated streak ended with a 4-1 defeat to Paris Saint-Germain that dumped Barcelona out of the Champions League quarter-finals, Xavi has now agreed to stay in his role.
The league title is almost out of reach this term, however, as Real Madrid moved 11 points clear of second-placed Barca with Sunday's 3-2 Clasico victory.
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