Days before Manchester City’s confrontation with Liverpool,
which was crowned Premier League title, coach Josep Guardiola
confirmed that his team will honor the “honor guard” fit
for his guest.
Liverpool will be a guest at City Etihad Stadium, on the evening
of the second Thursday of July, in the 32nd stage of the Premier
League, in his first match after winning the league title in his
favor for the first time in 30 years.
The Red Club was crowned champion of England this week,
after losing its direct chase City to its hosts Chelsea by
1-2 in stage 31.
Liverpool moved 23 points ahead of the leaders, with only
7 matches left.
Guardiola, who led City to the league title in the past two
seasons, stressed that Liverpool, led by German Jurgen Klopp,
“deserves honor”, especially lining up his players as a “guard of
honor” for the opposing team players as they entered the field.
He said: “Of course we will do that. We will salute the guard
of honor, of course,” that salutation, which sometimes
represents a dilemma, and may cause sensitivities among
the fans in most major tournaments.
He continued in a press statement, Saturday: “We always host
Liverpool in an amazing way when they come to our stadium.
They cannot complain, and of course we will do it (this time
too) because they deserve it.”
The Spaniard, who has been supervising City since 2016,
touched on the performance of the team in the domestic league
during the 2019-2020 season, rejecting any suggestion that
its players did not show a desire to win the title for the third
time in a row.
Guardiola stressed that “a team that has won 8 titles in the past
three years (City) has a passion. In every game, in every
competition, wherever it is. No one in this country can say”
the opposite.
Guardiola led his team twice to win the Premier League title,
the FA Cup title, the League Cup title 3 times, and the
Community Shield title twice.
City and Guardiola achieved in the 2018-2019 season an
unprecedented local triple through the League, Cup and
League Cup.
“Doing what we did in the toughest league in the world is very
difficult, but we cannot win all the time. There was an
exceptional team, and when the team is exceptional, what I am
calling is learning from and congratulating him,” the former
coach of Barcelona and Bayern Munich continued. It is simple.
Liverpool achieved a record achievement this season, winning
the league title in its favor, with 7 stages remaining.
