Schalke vs Man City: Pep Guardiola calls on his players to carry FA Cup ‘charisma’ into Champions League

City play at Schalke 04 on Wednesday evening as they start another Champions League knockout campaign but Guardiola is urging his team not to worry about the venue or the opponent

Pep Guardiola speaks to the media in Essen, Germany (AFP)

Pep Guardiola has told his Manchester City team to play with the same “personality and charisma” in the Champions League as they showed at Newport County on Saturday evening.

City play at Schalke 04 on Wednesday evening as they start another Champions League knockout campaign but Guardiola is urging his team not to worry about the venue or the opponent but to impose their own game. That means focusing on themselves rather than the opposition. On Saturday evening City won 4-1 at Newport, and Guardiola said tonight that must be the model for how City play in away games. Of course they will face better teams than Newport, but the principles have to stay the same.

That is why City will go on the attack in Gelsenkirchen. “To score away is important,” Guardiola said. “The way we want to play, we try to impose our game and score goals. And that’s what we’ll try to do. Sometimes it’s better to be defensive at home and to score away [because of the away goals rule], but we look to be ourselves. Against Newport is what I want to see: personality and charisma to play in the big stadiums and that’s what we try to do.”

It is less than one month since City lost 2-1 at Newcastle United, a result that seemed to end their title defence, but Guardiola was impressed by City’s form since then. And he said that the crucial element to success tomorrow night and beyond was how City managed to live out their principles on the pitch. If they stick to their own style and play and do not lose their nerve he predicts they will be successful.

“I have the feeling that you cannot go through if you are not yourself,” Guardiola said. “If you expect something is coming from above, if you don’t do your best performance then sooner or later you will be out. You want to dream a lot, in the quarters if you want to go through you have to be yourself every minute, every single second. Be incredibly focused on this competition and impose your game. Whether you go through, or go out being yourselves, we will try.”

Guardiola won the Champions League in 2009 and 2011 but has not even got to a final since and has a chance to put that right if City can improve in the knockout phase this year. “This competition is special,” he said. “You have to suffer the bad moments, survive the bad moments, and in your right moments make the difference. We arrive with many dreams in our heads. We have to play a good game tomorrow, but we are strong and feel a lot of confidence here.”