Pep Guardiola has pushed back on the suggestion that winning the FA Cup was not one of Manchester City’s priorities at the start of the season and insisted that it’s ”important” his players lift the trophy on Saturday.
Guardiola’s side have missed out on the Premier League and Champions League during a disappointing campaign. But Guardiola has rejected the narrative that winning the FA Cup is inconsequential to a squad used to collecting bigger prizes.
City face Crystal Palace at Wembley on Saturday looking to win the competition for an eighth time in their history.
“That is the problem, the FA Cup now is not the first choice,” Guardiola said.
“Not anything is enough. Of course we want it. Now we are here, we want to lift the trophy. We are disappointed with our performances this season but I’m pretty sure we will perform well and compete against them [Palace].
“It’s definitely important. You have to be there and you have to win previous games and we have done it many times in years.”
Guardiola has no new injury worries ahead of the final. Speaking at a news conference on Friday, the City boss was asked whether there was a chance Rodri could be included on the bench at Wembley.
The midfielder has been out since September with a knee injury but has returned to training. After the FA Cup final, City have two more Premier League games against Bournemouth and Fulham before flying to the U.S. in June ahead of the Club World Cup.
“I’m waiting on the doctors,” Guardiola said. “When they tell me he’s ready, he’s going to start. We don’t want to take a risk and make a setback.”
Meanwhile, Guardiola has refused to answer questions on summer transfer target Florian Wirtz.
Sources have told ESPN that City have been in touch with Wirtz’s representatives with the Germany midfielder viewed as a possible successor to Kevin De Bruyne.
“It’s not the time to talk about it before the final of an FA Cup,” Guardiola said.
“I have 24 exceptional players, I don’t want to talk for one second about the future.”
Espn.co.uk
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