Pep Guardiola matches Jose Mourinho’s Champions League semi-final record
Guardiola’s task now is to add to his collection of two trophies
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Pep Guardiola will match Jose Mourinho’s record for most Champion League semi-final appearances by a manager when Manchester City take on Paris Saint-Germain in the last four.
City beat Borussia Dortmund 2-1 on Wednesday night thanks to goals from Riyad Mahrez and Phil Foden to seal a 4-2 aggregate win in the quarter-finals. It means Guardiola has reached his eighth Champions League semi-final across a career managing Barcelona, Bayern Munich and now City.
Spurs manager Mourinho has reached the semis at Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan and Real Madrid, winning the competition twice, first with Porto and later Inter. Guardiola’s task now is to add to his collection of two European Cups a decade after his last. City face PSG before a potential final against either Chelsea or Real Madrid.
The manager reserved special praise for Foden after the 20-year-old’s decisive contribution against Dortmund.
“You have the feeling that he is a guy who never hides,” said Guardiola. “He always creates something. He is dynamic offensively, defensively with quality in the smaller spaces. He is learning right now not to take just one touch. He is able to make more touches when making decisions.
“He scored two important goals. The second goal in the Etihad and now helped us to be in the semi-final. We knew it from the beginning and how he grew up. In the quarter-final of the Champions League, he was the important player to go through to play against PSG.”
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