Guardiola uses Michael Jordan to defend City’s Champions League failures

It’s not that Pep Guardiola hasn’t won a Champions League. In fact, he has won two, both when he was with Barcelona (2009 and 2011). It’s just that he hasn’t managed to get Manchester City that trophy. City got the closest last year, but suffered a disappointing loss to Chelsea in the final. They’ll now look to make it to the end again, as they face Bayern Munich - coached by Thomas Tuchel, who defeated them with Chelsea last season - in the quarterfinals, the first leg kicking off today at 3 p.m. ET.

Guardiola not worried about the losses

Guardiola doesn’t think about the losses in the traditional way. He knows that great athletes and teams are typically defined by their wins, but for every win, there are countless losses. He used former NBA star Michael Jordan and golfing legend Jack Nicklaus as examples.

“How many Masters has Jack Nicklaus played or how many majors has he played in his career? In 30 or 40 years as a golfer? In 30 or 40 years as a golfer of four majors [a year]. What is the Champions League in comparison? 120, 130, how many has he won? 18 wins. Wow. He loses more than he wins. That is sport.”

“In football, in golf, in basketball; Michael Jordan, the best athlete for me in basketball, won six NBA titles out of 15 [seasons]. He loses more than he wins. This game, all games, are so difficult.”

It is clear that Guardiola will not be deterred by his past losses in the tournament.

“What’s important is to be here, compete well, do our best, knowing that tomorrow...we have to be perfect, to try to get a good result to go to Germany. No more than that,” said Guardiola.

“I live my profession that way. After that, if I lose, I lose. I’m not perfect. What’s important is we’re still there, after winning what we won last season. That’s the biggest compliment that I can give as a team as an organization - we’re still there.”