- Ait-Nouri reflects on Man City’s past successes
- Highlights club’s winning mentality
- Hopes to win his second trophy today
Rayan Ait-Nouri has revealed why he thinks Manchester City have lifted so much silverware over the years.
Last season saw the Citizens miss out on a trophy for the first time since Pep Guardiola’s first campaign at the club.
However, this season has been business as usual, with Manchester City winning the Carabao Cup in March.
And this afternoon, the chance to win another trophy is at hand. All that is required from City is to defeat Chelsea, which they already did just over a month ago.
Rayan Ait-Nouri praises Man City’s winning attitude
Having quality players can help towards winning competitions, but to be so consistent requires the mentality of serial champions.
This is what has impressed Rayan Ait-Nouri the most about Man City, and he has highlighted how the club’s environment is built on wanting to be successful.
Rayan Ait-Nouri says Manchester City's winning mentality is crucial as they prepare to face Chelsea in the FA Cup final this afternoon
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“Yeah, this club is the mentality you know,” Ait-Nouri told BBC Radio Manchester. “Everyone wants to compete, everyone wants to win trophies like we saw the last few years.
“They [Man City] win a lot of trophies. Champions League, they win a lot of FA Cups, Premier League also.
“Maybe it’s the mentality of this club. Win, just win, win, win. Win every game.”
Ait-Nouri understands the threat Chelsea will pose
Being in a final is all well and good, but the FA Cup does not belong to City yet. They will understand this all too well, having fallen at the last hurdle for two successive years.
Ait-Nouri did not play for the Sky Blues this time last year, but he knows that anything is possible when it comes to cup finals.
“It’s a final. Everything can happen in a final, Ait-Nouri continued. “Chelsea’s a tough team. They have a lot of very good players. They show in the past also.
“It’s true this season they are not in the best form, but a final is a final. Everything can happen in a final.”
He added: “And we will try to play our football and we will see what happens.”
Ait-Nouri is unlikely to start against Chelsea
The left-back has already experienced one cup final at Man City, but he did so as an observer from the bench.
Guardiola’s decision not to play Ait-Nouri actually turned out to be a stroke of genius, because Nico O’Reilly scored both City’s goals against Arsenal.
Since then, the Algerian international has only made two starts for his club, so he is unlikely to play against Chelsea.
Should Rodri remain unavailable, there is a chance Ait-Nouri will start if O’Reilly is moved into midfield.
Were this to happen, the 24-year-old would need to be at his very best, because the chance to feature in a cup final can be something which only comes around every so often.
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