Sunday 2 March 2014 11:23, UK
Sunderland manager Gus Poyet has challenged his players to make themselves the happiest in England by beating Manchester City in the Capital One Cup final on Sunday.
The 46-year-old Uruguayan admits he could never have imagined leading the team out at Wembley when he took over the reins from Paolo Di Canio on October 8.
He said: "It's going to be special, firstly because I was not expecting this in my first season here, and secondly because everything was very, very dark and sad when we got here.
"Now we are 90 minutes away - or 120 - from being the happiest people in England.
"To be there, you need to have done something previously, and I think we deserve to be there for what we have done in the cup.
"Forget about the rest, in the cup especially, we have been a team that was difficult to play against and we have beaten top teams to have a chance to be in the final.
"If in my press conference when I arrived you had asked me about the cup, I would have said, 'Oh come on, stop it, I'm not talking about the cup. There is only one thing to talk about and that is the Barclays Premier League'.
"But now we are here and now it's the opposite. Now if you asked every manager in England if they would like to be where we are, they would say to you, 'Yes' because you have got a chance to win something.
"We need to make sure that we do everything possible to take this opportunity. That's the only thing I can ask of my players, everything possible.
"I want to have a feeling on Sunday morning that everything was done to the best of our ability to go and play the game."
Watch the Capital One Cup final live on Sky Sports 1 HD from 12.30pm on Sunday.
