Guardiola adamant he won’t change swashbuckling ways despite losing Spurs thriller

DEFIANT Pep Guardiola will not change his ways despite Manchester City’s shattering Champions League exit.

And the Manchester City boss has no regrets about the way he tackled his team’s pursuit of the coveted Quadruple.

Guardiola appeared for his pre-match media conference yesterday with the word #Life on his hoodie.

And the former Barcelona and Bayern Munich boss was certainly full of it.

Critics have been quick to point out Pep’s recent record in Europe’s top competition — which he has not won for eight years now.

The defensive record of his teams in knockout games has been given as the reason for another Euro disappointment.

Yet Guardiola, 48, loves the free-scoring nature of his City team as they close in on another goal record.

Three more in today’s Tottenham re-match will see them pass the 156 by Manuel Pellegrini’s side five years ago — the most goals in all competitions by a top-flight side.

Last season, they netted a Premier League record 106 to win the title.

The Spaniard believes no other team in Europe does it quite like they do. And he does not want to compromise that.

Guardiola said: “We concede a lot but we score a lot.

“Of course we have to improve — but the way we play we’ve scored 154 goals.

“And the way we play made it a good game for everyone here and around the world on Wednesday.

“We’re not going to change. It’s not enough to go through, so I’m sorry guys.

“But next season we are going to try and always, in good moments and bad, we are honest in the way we want to play.”

Guardiola had never failed to reach the Champions League semi-finals before he arrived at the Etihad in 2016.

The two-time winner has not reached the last four in three attempts as City boss. Yet he would rather go out all guns blazing — like City did against Spurs, losing on away goals after winning a 4-3 thriller in the second leg — than slip out with a whimper as some of his teams have done in previous semis.

He added: “All season, not just this specific game, I’m proud. I like to see them play like this.

“I prefer this way. I went out sometimes in a semi-final with previous teams and it was not good the way we played, I had a lot of regrets.

“But in this situation we did everything. The way we played, my feeling is in these stages every season we compete better. We are a better team. We are more solid.

“We still create a lot of chances — no team in Europe creates chances like we can.

“That is why we scored a lot of goals.

“That is what I like about my team, that is what I am going to defend until the last day I am here. But unfortunately we are not in the latter stage.”

Guardiola has said all along that winning the Quad is ‘almost impossible’. But he vows to go for it again next season despite the extra workload.

City have played nine matches more than title rivals Liverpool after winning the Carabao Cup and reaching next month’s FA Cup final against Watford.

Jurgen Klopp’s men crashed out at the first hurdle in both the domestic cup competitions but Guardiola knows no other way than to try to win trophies.

He added: “I don’t understand in my profession to say ‘I don’t want to win’.

“If I lose it’s because the opponent beat me or beat us.

“I’m not going to drop any competitions because maybe in the future it will be better.

“Who knows what’s going to happen in the future because the present is this game. But I will try. I will dream next season of fighting for the four titles, that’s my dream.

“Others had time to go to Abu Dhabi or Marbella or another to have sun for a week. We didn’t have time but I like it that way. I love it.”

If City bounce back as well as their manager today, it could be a long afternoon for Tottenham.

Revenge over Mauricio Pochettino’s men will keep a second successive Premier League title in their own hands.

Guardiola, though, is unsure what to expect after the crushing disappointment of Wednesday’s quarter-final.

He added “You never know how you’ll react. We were out other times and we reacted well. But really I don’t know.”

Yet when City lost to Liverpool in Europe a year ago, they followed it up with a 3-1 win over . . . Tottenham.

A repeat of that today would do very nicely for Guardiola.