Pep Guardiola says he has taken on board Thomas Muller's "criticism" as he prepares for the biggest game of Manchester City's season.
The Blues take on Real Madrid at the Bernabeu in the first leg of the Champions League last 16 tomorrow night after being eliminated at the knockout stages in the last three seasons, by Monaco, Liverpool and Tottenham.
And as Guardiola's former player at Bayern Munich, Muller also experienced European heartache as the German giants reached three successive semi-finals under the Catalan – and lost them all.
Muller was glowing with praise for his former boss in an interview this week but suggested that he sometimes over-thinks and over-compensates when facing big-name opponents in knockout games.
The Germany star said: "He's always a little torn between paying extreme attention and respect to the strengths of the opposition – more so than against smaller teams – and sticking to his convictions and to a system he believes in."
That change in emphasis, from believing implicitly in his teams superiority and in the way they normally play, can affect a team's morale as well as disrupt their rhythm, goes the argument.
But Guardiola refused to see Muller's words as criticism, instead suggesting they were "info" to be absorbed.
"When an ex-players makes the statement, it's not criticism, it's info," said Guardiola.
"I have an obligation to know as much as possible about my opponent, and I have not played Madrid for five years
"Thomas and the others cannot say I didn't prepare to win games at Barca, Munich and City. I never watch a game and don't want to win it.
"As a player, I thought that if I know more about the opponent, it made me confident to know what I have to face.
"If the players felt that – if Thomas felt that – it's good info. Maybe it's a mistake but I try to make them confident and go out to try to win the game.”
Source: m.allfootballapp.com