Pep Guardiola could have been talking about a family summer holiday on the Atlantic Ocean.
Billeted in a nice hotel down the road from Lisbon in genteel Cascais, the Manchester City manager spoke last night of nice wine, good food and hot weather. Just what anybody would appreciate after another slog through a long — even longer than normal — Premier League season.
But as we know, Guardiola and his City team are in Portugal to work and to win. The Champions League — a competition Guardiola threatened to wrap up and claim as his own 10 years ago — is within his grasp for the first time in a long time.
Pep Guardiola has urged his Manchester City stars to grasp ‘once in a lifetime’ opportunity
‘This is once in a lifetime,’ said Guardiola. ‘It’s special.’
For many of the players in Guardiola’s squad this should not transpire to be a one-off. They are too talented for that.
But what stands before them is unique in some ways. No crowds, one-off matches, a week of win or bust football. Starting with a quarter-final against Lyon of France, City are three wins away from where they have wished to be for so long.
‘In some ways it is like the FA Cup or Carabao Cup,’ smiled Guardiola. ‘The players are used to these one-match games. If we lose we go home to Manchester but if we win we stay for a few more days. There are no second chances. You are either in or you are out. It is completely different to usual Champions League.
City take on Lyon in the Champions League quarter finals and are three games from glory
The French side knocked out Juventus in the round of 16 and may prove a tough prospect
‘So we must stay strong in our minds. These games will be about mentality. The head and the spirit lead all the other things. I think the players are ready to do it.’
The two quarter-finals played before Friday were dramatic affairs, PSG and RB Leipzig winning their games at the death on Wednesday and Thursday. Neither have won the tournament and neither have City. None of the three clubs have even been to the final.
With the likes of Liverpool, Real Madrid and the Italian clubs no longer involved, this year’s competition has a freshness to it, even if Friday’s meeting of Barcelona and Bayern Munich had the ring of a perfect final.
Guardiola won the Champions League twice with Barcelona but never managed to reach a final during his three years at Bayern. If City win on Saturday, they will be in their first semi-final under Guardiola.
Having knocked out Real in the last stage, Guardiola said: ‘It was so important to beat the kings of the competition but when you play this competition over one-off games anything can happen.
City boss Guardiola should be on holiday after a long season but is chasing European success
The Spaniard has endured a Champions League drought since winning it twice at Barcelona
‘There are no favourites but this is the time to show our real selves. I want the team to be who they are, to do everything that’s in their minds and souls. After that, the football will dictate whether we deserve to win or not.’
It was unusually emotive rhetoric from Guardiola, suggesting perhaps that his players may need a little something extra to raise them for what may be a rather surreal experience.
It is to be hoped they don’t as a fit and firing City should not find Lyon — seventh in the French league when it was abandoned in late spring — particularly taxing opposition on Saturday night.
With Sergio Aguero still receiving treatment on his injured knee in Barcelona, there are not too many taxing choices facing Guardiola in terms of selection either.
Perhaps the greatest will be whether to include young Phil Foden. The 20-year-old has been excellent since the resumption of football in June and was selected for the 2-1 home win over Real in Manchester two weeks ago.
Foden’s role on that occasion was as a false nine, however, and it would be surprising if we don’t see the Brazilian Gabriel Jesus playing through the middle in more conventional fashion here. Such are the riches at Guardiola’s disposal, it is actually quite hard for him to get this wrong. Some choices may be slighter better than others but none is likely to harm his team too much.
After all they have been through this season — a year in which they lost their domestic title to Liverpool but successfully fought off UEFA accusations of financial skulduggery — this feels like a very big week for City as a club and not just as a team.
Guardiola has very few selection headaches leading up to Saturday’s blockbuster showdown
He may opt for young Phil Foden again after his starring role against Real Madrid last week
Having already bought two players since the domestic season finished — defender Nathan Ake and winger Ferran Torres — it is clear that City intend to vigorously pursue Liverpool. Success over the next week would bolster them in other ways.
‘Every year the team is growing and the other part of the club is making sure it’s sustainable for the future,’ said Guardiola. ‘Good results help that. The elite clubs will always be there. Barcelona, Real Madrid, Bayern Munich. But in these games, this week, anything can happen.’
If Guardiola was deliberately attempting to place City further down European football’s food chain, nobody will be fooled. City see themselves as part of the elite in every way bar one and this is their opportunity to bridge that gap completely. City began this hurtling journey towards the top more than a decade to go. There is only one piece of paving left to place on the road.
Guardiola and his players are three games away from glory but, strangely, they feel somewhat closer than that already.