The Premier League champions hope to beat Aston Villa to claim a third consecutive trophy in the competition
Pep Guardiola believes Manchester City deserve to win the Carabao Cup this season because of the "courage and bravery" it takes to set out to win every game.
Guardiola's team may have fallen out of contention to win the Premier League crown this season as they sit 22 points behind Liverpool, they are still competing for the Champions League and FA and Carabao Cups.
City can claim a third consecutive Carabao Cup on Sunday when they line up against Aston Villa in the final and Guardiola feels it would be the right reward for the respect his side have shown their opponents throughout the tournament.
“The Carabao Cup is not the same as the Premier League and I would prefer to be winning the Premier League, but at the same time it is a good competition," the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss said.
“I remember the first game when we were at Preston and we used Eric [GarcÃa] and Taylor [Harwood-Bellis] and they played to win the game.
“That is what I like of my teams, it happens all the time. There is not one opponent that can say they faced one of my teams, Manchester City, Bayern Munich or Barcelona, and we didn’t try to win.
"It takes courage and bravery to try to win all the time. Sometimes we have to defend more or use more long balls but that is only because we are up against a good opponent, not because we want to."
Guardiola was the subject of praise in the media this week after his side came from behind to beat Real Madrid in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on Wednesday.
But the coach feels the room for error in the Champions League is so small that it could easily have gone another way.
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"The margins between victory and defeat in that game were so tiny," he said.
"It was the same with Tottenham last season and the season before that with Liverpool. In Madrid, Sergio Ramos had a chance to make it 2-0 and if he scores Zidane is a genius and I am a disaster.
"Forget about tactics, the manager who wins is a genius and the one who loses is a disaster. I make decisions, that’s my job, but not all of them work and every manager is the same. I prefer to give credit to the players, even the ones who didn’t play in Madrid. Their attitude and professionalism was incredible."
Source : Football News, Live Scores, Results & Transfers | Goal.com
Guardiola: Man City deserve Carabao Cup success for trying to win every game
Guardiola: Man City deserve Carabao Cup success for trying to win every game
