encouraged to play like Barcelona stars Lionel
Messi and Neymar by manager Pep Guardiola.
Sane, 21, has developed into a key player for City
since his move from Schalke last year, including
scoring nine goals so far this season.
The Germany international said he owed plenty to
Guardiola – who coached Messi at Barca – as the
Spaniard called on him to learn from the Argentina
star and Neymar.
"He is able to help me with things because he
knows how Messi plays, how he trains because he
saw him every day," Sane said, via The Telegraph.
"And that's why he tries to help me - to give me
the confidence to say, ‘Yes, try this – try maybe to
do it like this, like Messi does or Neymar does'."
Sane took time to settle at City and had to wait
until December for his first goal, scoring in a home
Premier League win against Arsenal.
The winger said he may have initially questioned
whether he was ready to play for City, only for wise
words from Guardiola to get him on track.
"I was young and maybe when I played against
bigger clubs at the beginning here I was thinking,
'OK, they are better than me,'" Sane said.
"Maybe I was a bit scared also, because I was with
a new team in a new country and you don’t know
anything about the league.
"But then at the end Pep told me, 'Play how you
played at Schalke because you were free there.'
"The other players are all normal human beings so
just play your best and play free."
City face Arsenal in an FA Cup semi-final on
Sunday, with the winners to play Chelsea in the
decider.
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