Pep Guardiola has called on Manchester City fans to raise their game for the first of three ‘finals’ in eight days.
The atmosphere at the Blues' Etihad Stadium has been far from intimidating this season, even though the team continues to sweep all before them at home and abroad.
And boss Guardiola issued a rare rallying call to the supporters before Wednesday's Champions League quarter-final second leg against Tottenham, saying: “The players are human beings. They will have bad moments in the games and, at that moment, we need our supporters.
“At this stage, without supporters, we cannot go through. I'm expecting. I’m really curious to how our fans are going to react. Really curious.”
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Sarcastically referring to himself as a failure - Guardiola has not reached a Champions League Final since 2011 - the Catalan asked for the sort of electric atmosphere he has experienced at other grounds while in charge of Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
He said: “Sorry, guys. I'm a failure in this competition, but many times I played in the semi-final and quarter-finals and every time I played away, the atmosphere was really incredible.
“They support their local teams. We need it. Really, we need it.
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“I want to see that they want to get to the semi-finals.
“Not the players, there’s no doubt about that. I want to see in my fans, our fans, that they really want the semi-finals. I want to see that.
“(The atmosphere in January for) … the Liverpool game would be enough for me, (or) a little bit better.”
Spurs arrive at the Etihad with a 1-0 lead from last week's first leg, but without injured talisman Harry Kane up front.
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The Londoners return on Saturday for a Premier League game that could have major repercussions for the title race.
City follow that with a trip to Old Trafford next Wednesday for a Manchester derby against United, and Guardiola found it impossible to underplay the significance of this spell.
He said: “I’ve had this feeling from weeks ago. If we don’t win these games, we will be out of two competitions.They are absolute finals for us.”
