Pep Guardiola has told his Manchester City players he will watch them like a hawk this afternoon in the build-up to their Champions League showdown with Real Madrid.
City face Norwich in a meaningless game for both sides to round off the Premier League campaign this weekend.
But Guardiola wants his players to remain focussed ahead of their round-of-16 second leg with Zinedine Zidane’s side.
He has set them a challenge of reaching 100 league goals – they’ve scored 97 so far – and says he will be monitoring their attitude over the next two weeks.
Guardiola said: “Every game there is a target, desire to win the game and scoring 100 goals is one of the reasons why. And to see if the players are ready. The way they play against Norwich and the way they train I will be paying attention to for how they play against Madrid.
“Every day will be an exam for me as whether they are ready to play this game. Against Arsenal we were not ready, Watford a little bit better, but still we need to improve.”
Guardiola added: “I think Real and us want to go through. We cannot deny they have more experience.
“We know we’ll have to do an exceptional game and try to be ourselves. We are going to train these days and prepare as best as we can and try to play the game thinking about our strengths and try to do it.
“Then the players will dictate whether we deserve to go through or they do, no more complications.”
Guardiola believes the 3-2 defeat to relegated Norwich in September highlighted the frailties that cost City their title.
“That game showed our inconsistency this season,” he said. “The last game was first time we won four games in a row. Last season we did 14, the year before that 18.
“We’ve not been consistent. We want to win, maybe score 100 goals and then prepare for Madrid.”
Man City: Ederson, Walker, Eric Garcia, Laporte, Joao Cancelo, De Bruyne, Rodri, Silva, Foden, Gabriel Jesus, Sterling
Subs: Stones, Gundogan, Zinchenko, Bernardo Silva, Mendy, Fernandinho, Mahrez, Otamendi, Carson
Norwich: Krul, Aarons, Zimmermann, Godfrey, Lewis, McLean, Cantwell, Rupp, Stiepermann, Hernandez, Pukki
Subs: Vrancic, McGovern, Idah, Thomas, Famewo, Martin, Mair, Adshead
