Pep Guardiola comments raise Sheffield United’s hopes of Man City FA Cup shock

Pep Guardiola has insisted his Manchester City side are “exhausted” despite going into this weekend’s FA Cup semi-final against Sheffield United on the back of qualifying for the Champions League last four.

City booked their third successive European semi-final after beating Bayern Munich 4-1 on aggregate after a 1-1 draw in Germany last night. It is a quick turnaround for City, who face United on Saturday at Wembley before a Premier League title decider against Arsenal next Wednesday evening.

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“The team is exhausted, so I don’t know how we are going to recover to play against Sheffield United because we play on Saturday,” Guardiola told BT Sport.

“It’s so demanding, so I don’t know how we will arrive because now is a tough moment for the game on Saturday.”

Striker Erling Haaland recovered from an earlier penalty miss to score City’s goal, his 48th of his first season in English football.

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“Erling is a threat. We know that,” Guardiola added. He showed personality for the penalty. He missed it but it doesn’t matter.

“He is having a good season and finishing really good. I’m so happy - three years in a row in the semi-finals of the Champions League against an incredible team.

“But we struggled in the first half and 4-1 doesn’t show the two games. Fortunately, they missed their chances.

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“We defended well and in the second half we were much better. The only regret is we didn’t have more sequences of passes. You have to have more passes against a team of that quality.

“But apart from that, congratulations to all at Manchester City and thank you to all our fans who came to Munich.”

Midfielder Kevin De Bruyne added: “It is going to be a quick turnaround [to the United game]. “The schedule is what it is. It is very hard for us, but it is a privilege playing in all these semi-finals.

“A lot of people want to be in our position. We are proud but we have to go on.”

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