Guardiola: Man City must play Barcelona like a final

Pep Guardiola wants Manchester City to treat Tuesday’s clash with Barcelona as if a final, but accepts they need to be perfect to win.

City host the Spanish champions at the Etihad Stadium after being thrashed 4-0 by the same opponents in the Nou Camp a fortnight ago. That has left City facing a battle to qualify for the Champions League last 16 from Group C – having also been held to a draw by Celtic.

City manager Guardiola, speaking at his pre-match press conference, said: “I think we know what we have to do to beat them and hopefully our quality up front will make a difference.

“We have to play in that way – like a final. It’s not a final for them, it is a final for us. There are just three games left and we dropped two points in Glasgow, so we have to recover those points in the next two games.

“We have to be focused for 90 minutes, knowing they are going to provoke mistakes because of the quality they have.

“But we had a few chances and have to keep going in that sense and try to finish better than we did in Barcelona.

Former Barcelona boss Guardiola said: “Winning the last game will help us a lot. When you play a game having won the previous one the feeling is much better. We play the best tomorrow and we’re going to try to win.”

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