Pep Guardiola has claimed he is unconcerned about Antonio Mateu Lahoz taking charge of Saturday’s Champions League final despite his turbulent history with the Spanish referee.
Lahoz has awarded three penalties against City in three Champions League games and sent Guardiola to the stands at half-time of their quarter-final defeat by Liverpool in 2018. In the previous year’s last-16 exit against Monaco, decided on away goals, he booked Sergio Agüero for diving rather than award a penalty for a trip by the goalkeeper Danijel Subasic.
Following his dismissal against Liverpool, when Guardiola confronted the referee for disallowing Leroy Sané’s goal for offside despite the ball being knocked into his path by James Milner, the City manager said: “Mateu Lahoz is a special guy, he likes to be different, he likes to be special.”
Before Saturday’s game against Chelsea in Porto, however, he claimed to have given no thought to Lahoz refereeing his first Champions League final. “Not one second,” the City manager said. “I could not care less. I am so confident in my team. You cannot imagine how confident I am in my team and what we have to do.”
City have lost twice to Chelsea since Thomas Tuchel replaced Frank Lampard as manager, in the FA Cup semi-final and Premier League, but Guardiola insists his champions are not unique in struggling against them.
“Chelsea create problems for all teams,” he said. “We have to see how many problems we create for them … They have beaten us in two games, congratulations, but this is a different competition and a final and we will see what happens.”
City and Chelsea have each conceded only four goals, the lowest tally for two finalists since 2006, and Ilkay Gündogan believes defences may well decide the outcome.
The City midfielder said: “I feel this year a couple of crucial things changed for us. As an example, against Monaco a few years ago we conceded three goals at home. When Tottenham knocked us out we again conceded three goals at home. When we played Lyon we conceded three goals. And this year it seems that we are so stable in the back. We concede just a few goals and that helps us win even more.
“I feel we are very strong and stable and this is so important in the crucial moments, especially in the knockout stages and the big games. It is the same for Chelsea as well. They also seem stable at the back and concede only a few goals. Maybe on Saturday it is going to be about who is able to deal better with a team that will defend on a very high level.”
