‘City cannot compete with the likes of Real and Barca’

– Pep Guardiola (right) insisted that Manchester City are “decades” behind Europe’s largest clubs despite the 5-0 win away to injury-hit Watford that clinched Champions League qualification.

The City manager was delighted with the result on the final day of the Premier League season for one of the richest clubs in world football, but former Barcelona and Bayern Munich head coach Guardiola said that wealth did not count as much as experience and status.

“When Real Madrid and Barcelona want one player other teams cannot compete,” said the Spaniard. “It’s not just money. It’s Real and Barca.

“For years this club (City) was not playing in Europe, and now we’ve been there seven years. But to achieve the next step, the gap is shorter, but it’s more difficult – to compete head to head against the big clubs in Europe.”

Guardiola revealed that Sergio Aguero, who scored twice against Watford, will remain at the Etihad Stadium next season, along with captain Vincent Kompany, who opened the scoring.

The manager was relieved to have secured third place in the Premier League and so avoided a qualifying round.

“It was in our hands, and Watford had trouble in defence, a lot of injuries, but always when you play for something on the last weekend of the season it is complicated, there is always pressure,” said Guardiola.

“Big, big teams, we knew it wouldn’t be easy. Knowing Chelsea play one game a week, how strong they are. Tottenham were second and one of the best teams of the world.”

Watford boss Walter Mazzarri left the club after six successive defeats, their worst run for 44 years, but he cited injuries as the reason.

“While we had a complete squad we were fighting for seventh place, reached 40 points and were 10th. But today we had absolutely no defenders, I would like to see which team could do better,” he said. – AFP