Pep Guardiola has told his Manchester City players not to be burdened by past failures in the Champions League ahead of tonight's showdown with Bayern Munich.
City have yet to win the Champions League, but Guardiola sought to reassure his players by reminding them even the greatest in the history of sport lost more times than they won.
Guardiola acknowledged the focus on City's failure to conquer Europe and cited golfing great Jack Nicklaus and basketball legend Michael Jordan to prove his point.
“We tried to win the Champions League last season, the season before, we tried three seasons ago - every single season,” said Guardiola.
“We want to try, like we try all the time, but it doesn't mean we're going to win. How many US Masters or Majors has Jack Nicklaus played in his career?
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“In 30 or 40 years as a golfer, playing four Majors a year, like the Champions League. How many wins out of 164?
“He had 18 wins out of 164. Wow! He loses more than he wins. That's sport. In football, in golf, in basketball.
“Michael Jordan, the best athlete for me, in basketball, won 6 NBA titles out of 16 years. He loses more than he wins. This game, all games, are so difficult.
Pep Guardiola is preparing his Man City side for their Champions League clash (Getty Images)
Guardiola referenced Jordan's NBA success to emphasise the scale of Man City's task (Getty Images)“What's important is to be here, compete well, do our best, knowing that tomorrow at 8pm we have to be perfect, to try to get a good result to go to Germany. No more than that.
“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 organisation - we're still there.”
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