Pep Guardiola says Manchester City's senior players 'addicted to winning'
Saturday 5 January 2019 22:32, UK
Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola says the senior members of his squad have an insatiable desire for trophies despite years of success at the Etihad.
City are now only four points behind Liverpool in the race for the Premier League title after beating Jurgen Klopp's side 2-1 at the Etihad on Thursday night.
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Sergio Aguero, Vincent Kompany and David Silva all played a key role in the victory and Guardiola is impressed with the consistency of his most experienced players.
"I have a lot of respect for the players that stay 10, 11, 12 years and every year do that," said Guardiola. "They are the ones I respect the most.
"Everybody can have an exceptional season, good moments, six months or a few seasons.
"But players like Vincent, David, Sergio, Nicolas Otamendi - these kind of players are there every single year and competing with the desire to win more and more and more.
"Winning is so addictive. It is something, when you taste it you want more."
Manchester City next face Rotherham in the third round of the FA Cup on Sunday before Burton Albion travel to the Etihad for the Carabao Cup semi-final first-leg on Wednesday.
City could play up to seven games in January if they remain in the domestic cup competitions and Guardiola says he will rotate his squad in order to cope with the demanding schedule.
"I would like to have two months holiday right now, this month was really tough but it is what it is," he said.
"We want to be a top, top club. We cannot deny any game and drop any competition. Maybe if we didn't play in the Carabao Cup it would be easier for our recovery but it is what it is.
"We are going to play the next game like a final, knowing if we win we go through and if we lost we are out of the second most important competition in England.
"We knew it was a lot of games but everybody has a lot of games. In the Premier League, December and January is tough for everybody - we are not special in that."
Guardiola added: "We have enough in the squad, Kevin [De Bruyne] is coming back, [Ilkay] Gundogan is coming back and we are going to rotate.
"Everybody is going to play, it is the only way."
