Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola said that being forced to look at the latest scenes from the Champions League of his sofa instead of the touchline causes motivation to qualify for the competition next season. City bowed during the playgrounds against Real Madrid in February – not having reached the last 16 for the first time since the 2012-2013 season. It was also the first time in the managerial career of Guardiola that he had not managed to reach the last 16, but he appreciated the show this week when Arsenal, Paris Saint-Germain, Barcelona and Inter Milan reserved their place in the last four.
“They were good games,” Guardiola said on Friday. “It is a motivation. It is not a bad thing to fight to qualify for the Champions League.
“I hope that next season, we can be there with big clubs in Europe and challenge them better than what we have this season.”
City finds himself involved in a battle to obtain a top five in the Premier League which would provide football from the Champions League for a 15th consecutive season.
Guardiola’s men are fifth with six games to play, but only one point ahead of Chelsea and Aston Villa.
However, Guardiola conceded that it could have been much worse for his team after a drastic drop in their standards this season compared to the team which won four consecutive consecutive titles.
“We could be in a very lower position in the Premier League,” he added.
“People say that we are fifth now but that we could be 11, 12, 13 or 14. I have no doubt. OK, we were not good, but it’s in our hands.”
Erling Haaland, John Stones, Nathan Ake and Ederson remain away for the trip from City to Everton on Saturday.
But they could again welcome Manu Akanji for the first time in two months, while Phil Foden recovered suddenly which led him to miss the 5-2 victory last weekend against Crystal Palace.
(This story has not been published by NDTV staff and is automatically generated from a unionized flow.)
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