In the final, Hasenhüttl could wait to see Guardiola again
Ralph Hasenhüttl can still hope for a title in the English Premier League, despite a poor yield with Southampton. The “Saints” have advanced to the semi-finals in the FA Cup. On Sunday (7.30 p.m. CEST), Southampton will meet Leicester City at London's Wembley Stadium. The “Foxes” with Christian Fuchs are favorites in the game. On Saturday (6.30 p.m.) the cup hits between Chelsea and Manchester City will also rise at Wembley.
ManCity could take another step towards “quadruple”. The Himmelblauen are on a master course in the league, are already in the final of the league cup (against Tottenham) and also want to take the trophy in the Champions League. Coach Pep Guardiola saw success as the best motivation. “Imagine we would compete without the promotion to the semi-finals of the Champions League behind us. That would be a lot more difficult,” said the Spaniard, who is particularly concerned about the tight schedule.
Chelsea are also still fighting for the title in the “premier class”. The “blues” have grown stronger under Thomas Tuchel. Guardiola was not surprised by this. “I knew he was going to do a good job,” he said of the German. ManCity won the most recent comparison at the beginning of January with 3: 1. Back then, Frank Lampard was still on the sidelines at Chelsea.
Leicester and Southampton can look forward to support from the ranks. 4,000 visitors are admitted to the game. In the final on May 15, 21,000 should then come to the wide Wembley Oval. The games are part of a government pilot project to test the return of large numbers of viewers to sporting events in the corona pandemic.
This is a great thing for Hasenhüttl. “It's important that a few people return to the stadium. It's good for the atmosphere, and certainly more motivating for the players,” said the Styrian. Leicester is third in the Premier League, Southampton 14th, but Hasenhüttl did not want to draw any conclusions from this. “We are sure to expect a tough game. But a cup semi-final has its own laws. It is not important to us what position we or you have in the table,” he said.
