Pep Guardiola claims journalists “had the headlines” ready after Etihad Stadium fire before Club Brugge test | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted that journalists will have had their headlines ready following a fire outside the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.

The Premier League champions were forced to take a different route into their home stadium for their final Champions League group phase clash on Wednesday night after emergency services descended on the Etihad to deal with the outbreak of a fire close to the arena.

Images and videos circulating across social media showed a merchandise stall outside the Etihad Stadium’s West Reception bursting into flames, leaving supporters to be evacuated from the area and all pre-match events and ceremony postponed.

Among the events cancelled was the scheduled welcoming event for Manchester City’s three new first-team signings, while the usual arrival of the team bus on the ‘Blue Carpet’ was removed from routine on a significant night for the club.

And it seemed as though drama off the field had transferred onto it when Club Brugge took a 0-1 lead into the half-time interval, before Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City players came from behind in the second-half to rescue all three points.

Speaking to reporters during his post-match press conference after a 3-1 comeback win over Club Brugge on Wednesday night, Pep Guardiola was able to issue a light-hearted look back on the Belgian outfit taking a lead in the contest through to the half-time interval.

“When I saw the fire [outside the Etihad Stadium] before the game, at half-time I thought the journalists had the headlines already. That’s for sure,” Guardiola told reporters.

On the first-half and what was missing from his Manchester City side’s performance, the 54-year-old explained, “We missed the spark, and I think Savio helped us like all the season when he’s played there. He was unbelievable!

“He changed the game because after five, 10 minutes he created two or three corners, our crowd reacted, and we had chances.”

The Brazilian inspired Manchester City to three points and three goals in the second-half against Club Brugge, securing a play-off place via 22nd position in the Champions League table, with two of European football’s heavyweights awaiting.

“We did it. We are there,” said Guardiola. “In two weeks we’ll be better than we are right now because new players come back, new signings against these two giants [Real Madrid or Bayern Munich] – one of them we’re going to play and we’ll see what happens.”

City are due to find out their opponents for a two-legged last-16 play-off tie in the Champions League this week, with the winner of a meeting against either of the two aforementioned European giants taking on Atletico Madrid or Bayer Leverkusen in the round of 16.