John Stones has shared some behind-the-scenes details on how the Manchester City players are acting ahead of this weekend’s Champions League final.
Having won the Premier League and the FA Cup in recent weeks, the Manchester club could now secure the treble if they beat Inter Milan in Istanbul on Saturday.
The last time Pep Guardiola’s side were in a Champions League final was back in 2021 where they lost 1-0 to fellow Premier League side Chelsea.
With this latest final just days away, one City figure has shared some insight into what the mindset is like in the squad.
Stones reveals behind-the-scenes squad details
Speaking to the media on Tuesday (via talkSPORT), Stones said this when asked what lessons learned from the 2021 final City will take into this game.
He said: “Don’t happen again, first and foremost. I think it was somewhere we’d never been before, a situation that we’ve never been in and with all the experience that we have, sometimes you just can’t put it into words or can’t put something on it or know what to do in a certain situation.
“I think now being through that difficult time and coming out on the losing side was super hard and hit home hard and that’s one of the biggest things, that feeling sticks with you and you never want to feel that again.
“We seem a lot calmer and more confident this time going into this game and knowing that we should believe in ourselves and believe in what we’ve achieved already and how we’re playing.
“There are so many factors that come into play that we should be confident about.”
Having only lost one game since March across all competitions, this shows the impressive form that City head into Saturday’s final in and why they will be confident they can beat Inter.
However, with the Citizens never facing the Italian side in a competitive match before, this means that Guardiola and his coaching staff will need to do as much research and preparation as they can to make sure the players can do their job.
Looking ahead to the showdown in Istanbul, with Stones highlighting the positive mindset that the players have at the moment, if City can deliver on the pitch and play to the best of their ability, they will have a great chance of winning the game and ending their already impressive season on a massive high.
