Manchester City will return to Europe’s elite stage on Wednesday evening after a three-and-a-half-year absence from the UEFA Women’s Champions League.
The Cityzens will welcome Barcelona to a sold-out Joie Stadium for a 20:00 BST kick-off under the lights, and Gareth Taylor addressed the media ahead of the clash to offer injury updates and an insight into what fans can expect from the clash.
What did Gareth Taylor say?
“The cream always rises to the top,” quipped Gareth Taylor as he previewed Wednesday’s meeting, “and you’re not going to have all players on both teams having a storming game tomorrow night.”
“Hopefully we get a few more on our side than they do on the opposition,” he joked, before reminding reporters that his side always “try to play the game not the occasion.”
The 51-year-old labelled Barcelona as “the best team in the world” and noted that “this is probably the busiest press conference in a long time, [and we’ve] sold out the Joie Stadium tomorrow because everyone wants to see this game. Our job is to control the controllable, the next action of the game and not worry too much about what’s going on outside.”
As for what those controllable aspects of the game might be, Taylor hinted that “we feel there are areas on the pitch within their team we can exploit.”
Embed from Getty Images“We’ve worked tremendously hard to be here,” he added, before suggesting that “if we come up short tomorrow in a one-off game, I’m not sure I’ll be too demanding or change my view of where this team can go.”
Barcelona’s recent success has seen them crowned as European champions in each of the past two seasons, bringing an end to Olympique Lyonnais’ continental dominance – and Taylor confirmed that he views the Blaugrana as “the best team in the world, certainly over the last four or five years.”
One of the key contributors to that success has been Keira Walsh, with the England midfielder having previously donned the sky-blue shirts of Manchester City. Speaking on her return to Joie Stadium, Taylor was full of praise and said: “She has performed supremely well for us, Barcelona and England. [She is] a top player who’s gone to Barcelona and won really well in that team, both domestically and on the European stage.”
Manchester City get their UEFA Women’s Champions League campaign underway at 20:00 BST on Wednesday, 9 October 2024. The match will be shown live in the United Kingdom by DAZN, with extensive coverage also available on FromTheSpot.
