Pep Guardiola has said he is motivated by the fear of failure and is determined bring more success to Manchester City after their record-breaking title-winning season.
“I’m ready. From my point of view, the players don’t have to be worried. I’m ready,” the coach told a news conference ahead of the Wembley curtain-raiser.
“The fear of losing games makes me starving and hungry again. To lose matches is not good for any manager, and all the managers will try to avoid that feeling.
“You feel guilty, you feel bad, your personal life is not good, the relationship with the players is not good.”
Guardiola said the Premier League remained his main aim, despite City’s owners making clear their desire to win the Champions League, as he looks to become the first manager since Sir Alex Ferguson in 2008 to lift back-to-back titles.
“The Premier League is the main target. The mentality right now is the Community Shield, but the Premier League shows how you are as a team,” he said.
“In the Champions League it’s more unpredictable. One bad moment, bad decisions, one bad half can break all the hard work of the season.
“For Manchester City the Champions League is a target, of course, but all the teams that play Champions League want to win it. I think we need more time to be a real contender for ourselves, for the referees, for the system, everything to fight for the Champions League.
“But Barcelona, for me the best team in the world at playing football, won their first in 1992. It’s not an easy competition. Every season being there is the most important.
“We are going to try with all our effort. But it’s the Premier League every day.”
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