Pep: I still get a buzz out of the FA Cup! | OneFootball

City boss Pep Guardiola has reiterated how much the FA Cup means to him ahead of Sunday’s semi-final clash against Nottingham Forest.

Under Guardiola’s leadership, City have gone on to establish a quite remarkable record in the FA Cup.

The Club lifted the famous trophy in both 2019 and 2023 whilst Sunday’s clash will mark City's seventh successive semi-final, a record-breaking achievement.

The boss has also spoken regularly in the past of how inspiring the FA Cup was to him even when he was a boy growing up in Catalonia, watching the final on TV.

And asked at Friday’s pre-match press conference whether he still retained the same passion and excitement for the FA Cup, the boss delivered an unequivocal answer.

“For me, yeah [I still get the same buzz being there]. Especially with the season we’ve had,” Guardiola said.

“We have the position in our hands and have an incredible opportunity to be three in a row in the FA Cup final.

“Then we have a few days to play Wolves, they come in the best moment of the season. Then after we have long weeks, it depends on the final or not to prepare the last three or four games.

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“We have to get to the final first. I have too much respect.

“I said many times, the season has not been good regardless of a final or we go to the Champions League. But we avoid bigger damage for the Club.

“From my point of view with dictating if the season is good is the Premier League all the time. It gives you week by week happiness then after the FA Cup and Champions League.

“The Premier League defines how good you are. It’s not been good, but it could be worse, we could be worse than third, fourth or fifth.

“After we have long weeks, it depends on the final or not to prepare the last three or four games. Hopefully we can do it.”

City will go into the Sunday’s semi-final on the back of three consecutive and crucial Premier League victories, the latest of which was Tuesday’s dramatic 2-1 home win over Aston Villa.

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That trio of victories have lifted City up into third place in the table and boosted the Club’s drive to secure a top-five place and with it qualification into the Champions League next term.

But looking further ahead to next term, the boss delivered a rousing message that he was sure City would respond in a fitting fashion to the frustration of not being involved in this term’s title rise

“There are reasons we dropped too much, and I have the feeling next year we’ll be better, we’ll compete better and be more who we are,” Pep asserted.

“I’m not saying we will win the Premier League, arrive in latter stages, of the FA Cup League Cup, Champions League, I’m not talking about that because we don’t have holidays, and I don’t know how we will react.

“But I know the players realise what we have to do to be a decent team.

“Aston Villa came here with their last 11 games, won 10. In Villa Park v PSG was, what a way to a defeat, it happened to us sometimes in the Champions League like we did against Real Madrid for example or against Tottenham.

“You feel when you're there how good they are. We compete, we didn’t concede much and were stable with a good spirit.

“We had a good spirit, passion and desire, forget tactics, think about this humble behaviour to defend your club.

“I’m pretty sure we had it and we’ll have it again, because I know the players.”

Nottingham Forest v City app coverage

Our official Man City app allows you to follow all of the action from Wembley in one place.

Minute-by-minute text updates will begin in our Matchday Centre two hours before kick-off, while our Matchday Live show will begin at around 15:15 (UK).

Andy Morrison and Nicky Weaver will be the guests on the latest Matchday Live show, offering their expert insight before, during and after the action.

During the game, you can also listen to live audio commentary from Alistair Mann and Michael Brown (via CITY+), while our text commentary continues.

Make sure to have push notifications turned on as well, so you can be alerted to key moments in the action, including goals, red cards and the team news.

You can access a CITY+ full-match replay from midnight after the game while a shortened and extended highlights package can be accessed from 12:00 (UK) on Monday.