Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola on Haaland and Rodri returns ahead of Wolves
01/05/2025
CGA, Manchester, UK
01/05/2025
CGA, Manchester, UK
Category
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SportsTranscript
00:00Let's start with Stuart, please.
00:03Hi, Pep.
00:05Are there any new injury concerns in the squad
00:08and any news on the players who have obviously been missing for quite a while?
00:13No, no news.
00:16Wolves are obviously one of the most in-form sides in Europe, actually.
00:20Six successive Premier League wins.
00:22What do you make of the turnaround under Vito Pereira?
00:26The quality they have, the shape they play.
00:30The courage.
00:33It's no surprise.
00:34I think Wolves always had, in the last years, always have really, really good players.
00:39And now they have an incredible run.
00:42Quite similar when Newcastle came a month ago, when Aston Villa came.
00:47So, yeah.
00:50Another final for us.
00:51It's maybe the important game that we have ahead of us.
00:55Because it's very tight in the Premier League from third till sixth or seventh.
00:59So, I mean, how big for you are these final few games in the Premier League
01:03in the race for Champions League qualification?
01:07Yes, obviously.
01:08It's what we won.
01:09Four finals we have.
01:12And, yeah, and then go for the first one.
01:14Hi, Pep.
01:22Erling returned to training, full training this week.
01:25Is he going to be involved?
01:26It's getting better.
01:28It's getting better?
01:29Will he be involved?
01:30I don't think so.
01:31And four fan groups have written a letter addressed to yourself regarding ticket prices
01:39and season ticket availability.
01:42Have you seen that?
01:42And have you managed to take it up some stairs?
01:44I respond in the last weeks in the same issues, the same.
01:48So, they can express what they feel.
01:52It's a group for fans to go all together.
01:57And they have some issues that they won't express.
02:01So, the club is here.
02:02Always have been.
02:03Always will be open to listen to what they think.
02:09And they're planning a demonstration before the game tomorrow.
02:11What's your message to those fans?
02:13Come to help us.
02:16We need them.
02:17Because the fans won next season play the Champions League and be a better team
02:20like we have been in this competition, the Champions League this season,
02:25to try to be what we have done for many, many years the last years.
02:28So, we need them desperately.
02:31So, to come to help us since the first minute until the end.
02:34Just on the letter from the fans, there was a request in there
02:40if you could ask Ferran Soriano on their behalf to bring up the ticketing issues.
02:45Is that something you've been able to do?
02:50If I can help, I will help.
02:51Definitely.
02:52I'm part of this club.
02:53From the bottom and the top.
02:56So, but I'm the manager.
02:57I do what I have to do to try the team, play as best as possible.
03:02So, it's all that I can do.
03:06And just in the last day, too, seeing that Rodri stepped up his recovery,
03:09how encouraging is this?
03:11We are really pleased that Erling is back, that Rodri is back,
03:14and the training sessions.
03:16So, the moment the doctor, if I make a surgery,
03:19the moment the physician doctor said,
03:21Rodri can start to play minutes,
03:24and after that he will start to play minutes.
03:26But the doctors have to tell me.
03:28So, it was a difficult injury.
03:32It was the injury, the seven months to 11 months,
03:35more or less, the doctor said.
03:38He feels really good.
03:39Every day he's making sessions and sessions.
03:42But we have to avoid, to avoid,
03:45to make a step backwards and injure again.
03:49And that's why you have to be careful.
03:51What's important is one training session, another one,
03:54and every time he feels better, better.
03:56And when the doctor said,
03:58Rodri is stable and, you know, he can start to play,
04:02and after that he's going to come back.
04:05I guess, Pep, the fans will want to know
04:06when they're going to see him actually play again.
04:08Do you see him playing again in the Premier League this season
04:11or maybe the cup final, Rodri?
04:13I don't know.
04:14I always said, the doctor will tell me.
04:16But your gut feeling?
04:17I'm not a doctor.
04:18I'm guessing you'd like to see him
04:21because that would help him prepare maybe
04:24for the tournament in the summer in America
04:26if he could get game time between now and the end of the season.
04:29Listen, the most important thing is Wolves.
04:32And I have to select the best players to play against Wolves.
04:35And I have to have a long week to prepare against Southampton.
04:39This is only a concern I have.
04:40When the doctor said to me,
04:42the fish is not just for Rodri, for Merlin,
04:44for the other ones, can do it,
04:45I will start to think about it.
04:47Third place or FA Cup?
04:50If you had to choose, Wolves.
04:54You're very welcome.
04:55Does the lack of relegation threat to Wolves
04:59make this game less tricky or you don't think that?
05:05No, I'm pretty sure the Wolves players
05:08prefer to come here at the stadium being already safe
05:11that a month ago was in a difficult position
05:13than coming here to, you know,
05:17to already, yeah, I would prefer.
05:22And I'm sorry, but after what Lamini Amau did this week,
05:26it's impossible not to ask you about him.
05:28Everybody is shocked because of his quality.
05:32Could you watch him?
05:34The game?
05:34Yeah.
05:35Yeah.
05:35Are you surprised?
05:38I'm surprised how nice was the game.
05:41So thanks to this type of games,
05:43the stadiums never, ever will be empty.
05:47And our business will grow up.
05:49So I just can be grateful for the two semifinals
05:52because both were unbelievable,
05:56especially yesterday game.
05:58and so when you play like Barcelona play,
06:03the stadiums never, ever will be empty
06:05and we can live in that business
06:07for a long, long time.
06:09So it doesn't matter results.
06:10So how proud the people who love Barcelona we are,
06:14you know,
06:14and I think Inter
06:15prove again how
06:18when we won the Champions League
06:20against the in-oponema,
06:21we played and we face
06:22as incredible Inter
06:24how good the fans
06:25and the transitions
06:25and physicality
06:27and well-organized.
06:29Inzaghi is an unbelievable manager.
06:31So, yeah,
06:33it will be next Tuesday and Wednesday
06:34will be incredible.
06:35Two games.
06:36I think the fantastic four teams
06:38and they deserve to be there.
06:40Okay.
06:40So I'm back off the centre this evening.
06:42Show me where to start, please.
06:43Show me where to start, please.
06:44Show me where to start, please.