Nathan Ake has revealed what Pep Guardiola has told the Manchester City players about their upcoming Champions League final clash against Inter Milan.
The Spaniard has seen his side win their fifth Premier League title and second FA Cup under his reign over the past few weeks and could yet see them add another trophy to their cabinet in the coming days.
With preparations for the match well underway, one figure in City’s squad has shared some behind-the-scenes details.
Ake shares early Guardiola team talk details
Speaking to CBS Sports Golazo, Ake said this when asked about what Guardiola has told his players about how to approach the final.
He said: “The manager has put that on us a lot of times. This season we’ve played a lot of big, big games, very important moments and the only way really we can win the game is to be ourselves.
“When we are ourselves, when other players are very confident, do what they can, we can play very good football and we know we can hurt teams. But, maybe when we are not really ourselves, it becomes more of a struggle, it’s more difficult like any other team.
“The manager really announced that we make sure we go into this game as any other game, show yourself, make sure that you be yourself and give everything like normal.”
Given the domestic successes that City have already had this season, as well as beating the likes of Bayern Munich and Real Madrid to get to the Champions League final, it’s safe to say that the players should be feeling confident in their own abilities heading into Saturday’s showdown.
However, with the Manchester club never previously facing off against Inter in a competitive match before, this means that Guardiola, his coaching staff and the players will have to do a lot of research to have an idea of what they’ll be coming up against and what the best way to beat them will be.
For example, with the Italian club scoring 19 goals and managing to keep eight clean sheets across their 12 Champions League games this season, this shows how City will have to be strong at the back and potent in attack in equal measure if they want to win the trophy and seal the treble.
