Manchester City reduced the gap to Arsenal to just two points in the Champions League on Wednesday, boosting their confidence with a 2-1 win over Real Madrid.
Ruben Dias echoed Josep Guardiola’s message, insisting Manchester City can get even better for the rest of the season. City enter the weekend just two points behind Arsenal, with the same goal difference.
When the two teams met at the Emirates Stadium in September, Arsenal scored in stoppage time to seal a dramatic 1-1 draw. The Gunners know what it’s like to be caught by City, having lost to Guardiola’s side in both 2023 and 2024.
After Wednesday’s 2-1 away win against Real Madrid in the Champions League, Guardiola insisted his side were not a finished product. This is despite having a record of 11 wins in 14 games.
“We are (far) apart,” City manager told TNT Sports after the match. “We are not ready yet. We will be better in February. We have been here in the past, we have played much more than we did today and we have lost.
“Sometimes that’s football. The players put in an unbelievable effort and the result was unbelievably good. Their mental strength is unbelievable, but there’s still room for improvement.”
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Diaz now faces a similar sentence. “We feel we are in a very good place,” City’s centre-back assured Sky Sports. “But we still feel we can be better.
“If it’s 70 percent now and 30 percent to go, or if it’s 80 percent and 20 percent to go or something, I don’t know what it is, but we feel like we can be even better.
“It feels good at this stage of the season. We still need to step up a gear, but I admit we feel strong at the moment and feel we can seriously compete.”
Less than 24 hours after Arsenal hosted bottom-of-the-table Wolves, they head to Crystal Palace on City Travel on Sunday. Guardiola was forced to miss his pre-match press conference on Friday due to personal issues, so his assistant Kolo Toure stepped in to praise his title rivals.
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“We know the quality of Arsenal,” Toure said. “They have a really strong team and a great manager, but it all depends on us. We have the best manager in the world and he does a great job every day.
“We love his passion for the game, the players and the staff. And we know he will take us as far as possible to win the league. We’re just focused on what we really can do, not what Arsenal are doing. Every game is like a final for us.”
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