Guardiola exhorts supporters to raise the noise during Man City’s “final” matchup with Villa

Pep Guardiola, the manager of Manchester City, has urged supporters to view Tuesday’s Premier League encounter against Aston Villa at the Etihad Stadium as a “final” as his team looks to qualify for the Champions League the following season.

After defeating Everton 2-0 on Saturday, City is now one point clear of seventh-place Villa in the rankings with 58 points from 33 games. The Champions League is open to the top five teams in the table.

“It’s a final and we need our people, because I think our people want the Champions League next season again,” Guardiola told the press.

“Hopefully, they can assist us right now. Don’t delay. Sometimes we play poorly, and other times we are careless.

“But it’s now we need them – we need them desperately, to support us, to make noise and be there all the time, because it’s a final, absolutely it’s a final for us.”

Guardiola cautioned that Tuesday’s match would not be simple, citing the Midlands team’s performance in their 5-4 aggregate loss to Paris St-Germain in the Champions League quarterfinals. Villa won 2-1 when the teams last met in December.

“(Villa) is a contender to qualify for the Champions League, and both games they play against my friend Luis Enrique and PSG, wow I was really impressed,” Guardiola stated.

“They can play low block or not, but when they decide to go, with the weapons they have, the speed they have, the set pieces, and the way they organise…”

Along with praising Nico O’Reilly, the Spaniard urged the 20-year-old midfielder to get better both technically and physically.

In the victory over Everton, O’Reilly, who has been playing out of position at left-back lately, made an impression and scored the first goal.

“He has to see if he can play every three days, like for example, Bernardo (Silva) has proven, or Kevin (De Bruyne) has proven, or Ruben (Dias) has proven,” Guardiola stated.

“I’m not sure whether these young athletes can play three games a week for months on end. I respect that he is learning and playing a position he has never played before.

“He obviously needs to get better on defense, but he’s fantastic with the ball. He is assisting us and has a good shot and quality in confined areas.