Pep Guardiola admits feeling the pressure ahead of Bayern Munich's crunch Champions League last 16, second-leg, clash against last year's finalists Juventus on Wednesday in his swansong season in Bavaria.
Guardiola has won five titles so far in three seasons with Bayern and is on course for the treble of Champions League, Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal (German Cup) title.
But he is under pressure to win the one title which has so far eluded him in Munich – the Champions League.
After it was announced in February that Guardiola will coach Manchester City next season, there is extra pressure on the Spaniard to cap his three seasons with the European crown.
In each of his two previous Champions League campaigns with Munich, Bayern exited at the semi-final stage, coming up short against Real Madrid, then Barcelona respectively.
Bayern threw away a two-goal lead three weeks ago against Juventus when the last 16, first leg, finished 2-2 in Turin.
Guardiola admits he has given some thought as to whether Wednesday’s return at the Allianz Arena could be his last Champions League game with Munich.
“Maybe it will be,” he said before correcting himself.
Read more: Diego Forlan – Manchester City, Pep Guardiola and Manuel Pellegrini all know the deal, coaches come and go
Also see: Richard Jolly – Rafa Benitez and Newcastle no natural fit, but at this stage, they need each other
“Normally, I’m a positive thinker. Never in my life have I thought: ‘this is the last game – why (would I)?”
Bayern warmed up for the visit of the Italian champions with a 5-0 trouncing of Werder Bremen on Saturday with Thomas Muller and Thiago Alcantara both netting twice.
Guardiola expects to be hit on the break by Juventus and he took pleasure from watching his side snuff out each of Bremen’s counter-attacks.
“It’s the hardest thing in football to attack ten players and then prevent any counters,” said the Spaniard.
“We have to implement our game very well, play very intelligently and have our heads in the right place for 90 minutes,” he added with an eye on Juventus.
Guardiola has kept plenty in reserve for Wednesday.
Netherlands winger Arjen Robben was left out of the matchday squad against Bremen.
Robert Lewandowski, who has scored a total of 34 goals this season, played only the last 16 minutes and Brazil winger Douglas Costa was kept on the bench.
Bayern have taken the draw in Turin as a clear warning.
They were cruising into the quarter-finals when Muller and Robben struck either side of half-time.
Juventus roared back with two goals in the last half-hour from Paulo Dybala and Stefano Sturaro to extend their unbeaten home record in Europe to 17 matches.
Bayern captain Philipp Lahm says the hosts can ill afford to allow the likes of Mario Mandzukic or Dybala much space.
“We’ve been warned. Juventus will capitalise on our mistakes and we can’t afford to have any weaknesses in our game,” said Lahm.
Bayern can certainly take plenty of heart from their impressive display against Bremen as Guardiola set a new club record.
The victory was his 75th win of his 94 league games in charge for an 80 per cent win-ratio.
They dominated Bremen, enjoying 83 per cent possession which they converted into twenty shots on goal with just two in reply.
“Crazy, crazy” was Guardiola verdict on the form of France winger Kingsley Coman whose lightning feet and pinpoint accurate crosses set up three of the goals.
Germany’s World Cup winner Mario Gotze returned after five months out after a groin injury and could face Juve, despite picking up an elbow injury.
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How Alia's experiment will help humans get to Mars
Alia’s winning experiment examined how genes might change under the stresses caused by being in space, such as cosmic radiation and microgravity.
Her samples were placed in a machine on board the International Space Station. called a miniPCR thermal cycler, which can copy DNA multiple times.
After the samples were examined on return to Earth, scientists were able to successfully detect changes caused by being in space in the way DNA transmits instructions through proteins and other molecules in living organisms.
Although Alia’s samples were taken from nematode worms, the results have much bigger long term applications, especially for human space flight and long term missions, such as to Mars.
It also means that the first DNA experiments using human genomes can now be carried out on the ISS.
Israel Palestine on Swedish TV 1958-1989
Director: Goran Hugo Olsson
Rating: 5/5
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The Perfect Couple
Starring: Nicole Kidman, Liev Schreiber, Jack Reynor
Creator: Jenna Lamia
Rating: 3/5
AUSTRALIA SQUAD
Aaron Finch, Matt Renshaw, Brendan Doggett, Michael Neser, Usman Khawaja, Shaun Marsh, Mitchell Marsh, Tim Paine (captain), Travis Head, Marnus Labuschagne, Nathan Lyon, Jon Holland, Ashton Agar, Mitchell Starc, Peter Siddle
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World record transfers
1. Kylian Mbappe - to Real Madrid in 2017/18 - €180 million (Dh770.4m - if a deal goes through)
2. Paul Pogba - to Manchester United in 2016/17 - €105m
3. Gareth Bale - to Real Madrid in 2013/14 - €101m
4. Cristiano Ronaldo - to Real Madrid in 2009/10 - €94m
5. Gonzalo Higuain - to Juventus in 2016/17 - €90m
6. Neymar - to Barcelona in 2013/14 - €88.2m
7. Romelu Lukaku - to Manchester United in 2017/18 - €84.7m
8. Luis Suarez - to Barcelona in 2014/15 - €81.72m
9. Angel di Maria - to Manchester United in 2014/15 - €75m
10. James Rodriguez - to Real Madrid in 2014/15 - €75m
Villains
Queens of the Stone Age
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5.30pm: Wathba Stallions Cup Handicap (PA) Dh 70,000 2,200m
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6.30pm: Abu Dhabi Colts Classic Prestige (PA) Dh110,000 1,400m
7pm: Handicap (PA) Dh85,000 1,600m
7.30pm: Maiden (PA) Dh80,000 1,600m
The National selections:
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5.30pm: AF Taraha
6pm: Dhafra
6.30pm: Maqam
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