Following the ruling that Manchester City will be banned from the UEFA Champions League for the next two seasons, what Pep Guardiola told his players after the club received the news has now reportedly been reported.
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This past Friday, it was announced that the Citizens would not be allowed to play in the Champions League in the 2020/21 and 2021/22 campaigns.
On top of that, City were slapped with a huge £25 million (R480 million), all for committing "serious breaches" of Financial Fair Play rules between 2012 and 2016, lying about their books and failing to co-operate with the investigation.
The news was believed to have come as a surprise to all of those involved with the club, and especially its players and coaching staff, including head boss Guardiola.
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The Spaniard, however, was said to have responded by trying to turn this negative into a positive, using the ban as motivation for his players to perform to the best of their capabilities against Real Madrid in their upcoming round of 16 UCL tie.
According to The Athletic, Guardiola urged his players to be "more concentrated and focused than ever" ahead of their clashes with Los Blancos, who, before last season, won the tournament three years in a row.
It has also been claimed that the 49-year-old told his team to not worry about what they cannot control, and that if they were to win both the Carabao Cup and FA Cup, they will have won seven of eight available domestic trophies since the beginning of last season.
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City announced immediately after the ban that they will appeal the ruling, with reports also suggesting that the club has decided it will not play the Champions League theme song when they host Real at the Etihad stadium.
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