Manchester, May 16 (IANS) Manchester City head coach Pep Guardiola was adamant that it is massively important for the club to end their season with a victory in the FA Cup, as he stands on the brink of his first trophyless season with the Cityzens since his debut year in 2017.

City will be facing Crystal Palace in the final at the Wembley Stadium on Saturday. The last time these two sides met was in the league in April, where Palace rushed to a two-goal advantage before conceding five goals.

Guardiola talked about that game in particular and admitted his side were slow in getting into the game.

“We didn’t start slow (when City went 2-0 down to Palace the last time they played each other). We played well in the beginning, but of course, in one set piece that we didn’t defend well, they went ahead). But before that, we were good,” said Guardiola in the pre-game conference.

And he added on how important it is to keep adding trophies to City’s cabinet, ”That is the problem now, right, the FA Cup is not the first choice (Pep said with a smirk). Of course, we want it. Once we are here, of course, we want the trophy. It is massively important.”

This is Manchester City’s third straight year in the FA Cup finals, having faced rivals Manchester United for two consecutive years. Guardiola’s side took the 2-1 win in 2023 but lost by the same scoreline the next year.

The Spaniard was asked about his learnings from both finals, and he admitted his side’s mindset was not perfect for the loss in 2024, but hopes to lift the trophy again this year.

“First of all, I want to thank the fans for wanting to come and support us. Winning is much better than losing. But you learn from the loss, Last season was special because three or four days before we won the Premier League for the fourth time in a row, so maybe our mindset was not perfect.

“The team didn’t have bad play, some decisions went against us. We lost it in the finals; it happens. It was important we were there, and again, one year later, are we there again?” said Guardiola.

–IANS

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