Pep Guardiola has a track record virtually unmatched by any other football manager, but Manchester City’s current occupant believes his time at the cityzen club will be judged based on his results in the Champions League, a competition he has only won with Barça, more than a decade ago.
The man from Santpedor recognized the importance of winning the top European competition at the press conference prior to the round of 16 second leg match against RB Leipzig. “It does not mean that I agree with it, but I am sure that I will be judged by this competition,” said Guardiola, winner of the ‘orejona’ as a player in 1992 and as a coach in 2009 and 2011.
“In my first game at City they asked me ‘are you here to win the Champions League?’ and I said ‘what?’ If I were the coach of Real Madrid, which won’t happen, I would have understood. But here? I don’t know,” he added about the obligation to win the club’s first Champions League.
With the skyblue team, the Catalan has always played in the Champions League, only eliminated in his first year by Monaco before the quarterfinals, and his best classification is the lost 2020 final against Chelsea. In his previous team, Bayern, he reached the semifinals in all three of his seasons. First they were eliminated against Real Madrid, then against Barça and finally against Atlético de Madrid.
Beyond the long-awaited Champions League, Guardiola has won ten leagues (four Premiers, three Spanish Leagues and three Bundesligas), three Spanish Super Cups, three European Super Cups, three Club World Cups, two German Cups, one FA Cup, two Community Shield and four English League Cups.
City drew in Leipzig (1-1) and this Tuesday they will seek a place in the quarterfinals at the Etihad Stadium. This campaign, the Manchester team is also immersed in the fight to retain the Premier title, five points behind the leader, Arsenal. He is also still alive in the FA Cup, where he is qualified for the quarterfinals.
“It is very important to continue in these competitions because they allow you to remain competitive in the last two months of the season. To continue trying to get closer to Arsenal, to continue in Europe… That would be good,” Guardiola analyzed the final stretch of the season.
