The City boss modestly sidestepped praise for his impressive record in finals, preferring to credit the work and abilities of the teams he’s managed.
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Pep has overseen 15 victories in various cup finals, including two Champions League successes, two Copa del Reys, two DFB-Pokal wins in Germany, three UEFA Super Cups, three FIFA World Club Cups, three Supercopa de Espana all won during his time with Barcelona and Bayern Munich.
Asked what his secret was he said: “I don’t know. Normally it’s because you have good players and good mentality. My message is always ‘don’t be scared to play the finals, be brave, try to score’. We are going to try.
“Finals are special, but to be there you have to win the quarter-finals, semi-finals.
“But the final belongs to the players, how brave you are, the courage you play these kinds of games. Don’t have regrets after the game.
“We will try to do what we have done this season on Sunday and after that we have six games to win to be champions and win the most prestigious title in this country.”
The Blues’ boss admitted the loss at Wigan Athletic was a blow, adding: “I always say I prefer to play a final after winning a game. I would love to play having not dropped a competition, but we have to focus.
“Arsenal always play finals well, they are experienced in those kinds of games. They always play well, they have good players in attack. Aubameyang, I know how good he is. They attack with a lot of players.
“I say the same thing I have always said - will be judged by how many titles we win. We don’t expect to win titles to be happy, but of course we are judged on our title successes.”
