Manchester City and Chelsea both held press conference on Friday as the hours tick down to Saturday's all-English Champions League final, being played in Portugal.
City coach Pep Guardiola spoke about his confidence in his fully fit squad, the stress of telling players they are dropped and the need to suffer to win.
On pressure
"Everyone wants to win but to win, you have to play. Sometimes you want to play one way but the opponent in the final dictates another way and you have to adapt to circumstances.
"Some players go out and have more pressure, more tension. Better players can struggle but you have to handle this.
🗣️ Guardiola: "I'm the happiest man in the world to be here. It’s a privilege, it's an honour."#UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/qYIJL7KxIg
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 28, 2021
"I'm sure we will have to suffer to win the final. It'd be nice to go out and enjoy, but sometimes it is not possible.
"Most times in finals, you have to suffer. You have to be resilient and adjust to the bad moments in the game.
"In both games against Dortmund and PSG, we suffered but we stuck together.
"Here we'll not have 90 minutes when one side completely dominates. In the moments we suffer, we'll stick together and the moments we are going to have momentum try to use it."
On dropping players
Asked what it was like to have to break his selection news to the players, Guardiola said: "Terrible. It’s absolutely disaster, I advise you don’t be a manager in your life.
🗣️ "I remember Luís Figo, Fernando Couto, Vítor Baía. I love this country."
— UEFA Champions League (@ChampionsLeague) May 28, 2021
Guardiola shares his ❤️ for Portugal 🇵🇹@ManCity | #UCL | #UCLfinal pic.twitter.com/uVB3Cwo2w6
"I don't have any nice words to [give] relief to [those] guys but my advice is stay with the team as there are five or six substitutions and everybody will have a part.
"I feel incredibly sorry for those that don't play because they all deserve it but it is what it is. I have to be honest. The selection I do is to win the game, no alternative."
On staying at City
"The club gives the manager everything he needs.
"When we lose, they don't tell me that I'm responsible. We look to find a solution.
"I know, as a manager, that if we don't win, they are going to fire me, but this is the way we work here and this is why I extended the contract. I feel incredibly comfortable.
Most importantly, apart from the players - because in five or six teams in England and Spain, they have top players as well - I feel comfortable with my staff, the backroom staff, I have everything. I can't ask for more to do my job as best as I can do.
"It's simple as that. We are in the same line, we take decisions together, we share the mistakes together, we share the good things all together and this is the point.
"When we lose, they don't tell me that I'm responsible, we look to find a solution. I know as a manager that if we don't win, they are going to fire me, but they are going to do it in a friendly way.
"This is the way we work here and this is why I extended the contract here by two years and after two more years. I feel incredibly comfortable working, not only with the players, but all the departments in the club.
"That's why I decided to stay longer."
Chelsea hopes
Chelsea coach Thomas Tuchel spoke on penalty form going into Saturday's Champions League final, the competition with Guardiola and a clear injury list.
"We always practise penalties when we face a match where it's possible it could go to penalties.
"Can we simulate the pressure, the fatigue, the occasion, how it will feel tomorrow? No, we cannot.
"But still we believe we can take care about some patterns, and about a certain rhythm and certain habits during penalties. Which we did.
"And we have identified the guys who should take the penalties for us, but I don't know who in the end will be on the pitch.
"So, we need to be well aware, but we are prepared and if we go to penalties, we go in there together."
On injuries
Chelsea boss Tuchel claims N'Golo Kante AND Edouard
— CFC_Mᴀɴᴜᴇʟ⭐️⭐️ (@CFCManuel_) May 25, 2021
Mendy will be fit for Champions League final#CFC #ChampionsLeague #Chelsea #theprideoflondon pic.twitter.com/KE1FW4209e
"It's the best news ever: we have no injuries and let's hope it stays like this until after the training," said Tuchel.
On Pep Guardiola
"I would never suggest it's me against him, it's much more than that; because we don't have a match of tennis tomorrow.
"We arrive with our teams, and Pep will prepare his team and I will prepare my team, the best way possible.
Players arrive in Portugal for the all-English Champions League final
"We have had two experiences now against them in different competitions, and two different matches, two different line-ups.
"And tomorrow will be a very different line-up, I think, from Man City.
"But nevertheless, we have the experience of how much we had to suffer, the experience of how brave, how courageous we need also to play in certain moments of the game. And for me, it's about this tomorrow.
"It's always tough to play against City, Bayern or Barcelona when Pep is at the sideline.
"They create and he creates this team with this huge belief, and this huge success, and continuously winning mentality.
"So, they are maybe at the moment the strongest team in Europe and maybe in the world, and they have a huge gap, they have built a huge gap between them and us in the league.
"But we closed the gap for 90 minutes in Wembley, we closed the gap for 90 minutes at City, and this is what we want to do tomorrow."
