Guardiola: 'Mane punching Sane is good for Bayern'

After the first leg at Etihad Stadium on April 11, where Bayern lost 0-3, Sadio Mane suddenly punched Leroy Sane in the face during an argument because of a technical disagreement. Two days later, the two sides made peace, apologizing to their teammates in the team meeting. When he hit the training ground soon after, Sane was in the same group as Mane, laughing during the warm-up, and kicking the team together when coach Thomas Tuchel split the squad for practice. Sane is said to have met with the Board of Directors, asking not to severely fine Mane to close the noise.

In yesterday's press conference, when asked about the possibility that this incident could have a positive impact on Bayern, coach Guardiola said: "Certainly, sometimes you need conflict for the whole team to be more united. pretty sure about that. It's not a weakness, it's Bayern's strength against us."

Last week's first leg was Bayern's first defeat in the 2022-2023 Champions League. Previously, the German team won all six group stage matches against Barca, Inter and Viktoria Plzen, and then defeated PSG in two rounds of the 1/8 round. However, due to internal disagreements and poor performance in the Bundesliga, Bayern sacked coach Julian Nagelsmann, and replaced it with Thomas Tuchel - who helped Chelsea win the 2020-2021 Champions League.

Through five matches under Tuchel, the "Gray Lobster" only won Dortmund and Freiburg (Bundesliga), the rest lost to Freiburg (quarter-finals of the National Cup), Man City and drew Hoffenheim (Bundesliga). Therefore, from having the opportunity to win the treble, Bayern is facing the prospect of nothing. In the Bundesliga, Tuchel's teachers and students were only two points ahead of Dortmund before the last six rounds.

However, Guardiola is still very vigilant, and believes that Bayern will play at its best in the second leg on the evening of April 19 at the Allianz Arena. "It was a final," he said. "Conversely, if we lose 0-3 in the quarter-final first leg, don't win the next game and have some conflict, the team will consider this a final and know what to do."

To prevent Bayern from coming upstream, Guardiola believes that Man City players need to work harder, while emphasizing stability in difficult times and fierceness. "We have to score a goal and try to win," said Guardiola. "That's what I want to say to my players."

If they beat Bayern, Man City will enter the semi-finals of the Champions League to meet the winner of the Real - Chelsea pair. In the first leg, Real won 2-0 at the Bernabeu. Last season, Man City also met Real in the semi-finals, where they won 4-3 in the first leg, but lost 1-3 in the return leg. Real then beat Liverpool 1-0 in the final.