Pep Guardiola argues Sadio Mane bust-up will help Bayern Munich
Pep Guardiola has insisted that Sadio Mane's recent bust-up with teammate Leroy Sane will make Bayern even stronger ahead of Wednesday's UEFA Champions League clash.
Guardiola's Manchester City thoroughly beat Bayern 3-0 in last week's first leg of their quarter-final tie at the Etihad Stadium. Things got even worse for FC Hollywood after the heavy defeat too, as star player Mane was revealed to have punched Sane in the dressing room and was subsequently suspended and fined by the club.
Now back in the squad for the second leg against Man City after manager Thomas Tuchel confirmed the situation is 'not an issue anymore', City's Guardiola told his pre-match press conference that he believes the drama will actually work in Bayern's favour and bring the team closer together.
"Absolutely, sometimes you need conflict to make the team more together, I am pretty sure of that," he said. "It's not a weak point, it will be a strong point against us."
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Guardiola went to explain the rational of his statement by insisting that he feels such an incident and defeat would spur his team on, making the next game a 'final'.
He continued: "I know this club perfectly, I can imagine the situation against City; we play there, the players will do their best. If it was the opposite and we had lost 3-0 and didn't win today and there was some conflict, the team would say it is a final for us and we know exactly what we have to do and we will do it."
Thomas Tuchel on Sadio Mane incident
Ahead of the game on Wednesday, Tuchel was keen to put the situation with Mane to bed.
"Sadio Mane will be in the squad on Wednesday," he confirmed. "He has already shown his reaction. It’s over, he’s apologised.
"It’s not an issue anymore."
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