CITY City fans ‘must buy into dream’ of European glory

PEP Guardiola has urged City fans to put pressure on his team to win the Champions League.

The Blues boss feels the supporters’ relative indifference to the competition is holding the Blues back in their quest to scale the summit in a competition he won twice with Barcelona.

Guardiola said recently he does not feel City have enough ‘history’ to win the Champions League yet.

And when asked to expand on that, he says the fans have a part to play in creating that history. “I was born in Barcelona and grew up there,” he said. “I started to play there. Then when you start to play they inoculate it into your blood and body that the only way to survive is to win.

“But also I learned that when you don’t, life goes on and you have another chance the next season.

“We’ll put more efforts into winning this competition. I saw last season and this that in many circumstances, the club we are, still we are not ready to win it. That’s what I feel.

“That doesn’t mean we are not going to try. To win this competition it’s not enough just to have desire, or wanting to win. You have to have many circumstances, have experience and still we don’t have enough in some moments – but every game is a new experience.”

But he said that a desire to succeed in the Champions League has to suffuse the whole club – and hinted that City fans’ hostility to Uefa is a flaw in that.

Blues supporters still boo the Uefa anthem and the home game against Lyon saw thousands of empty seats, with many supporters believing the Premier League is a bigger target.

“That’s not enough that the manager wants to win it,” said Guardiola. “It’s not just the players. You have to have the desire – the club, chairman, owner, the fans, everyone has to push to be closer, to achieve the next stages, and when it happens, everyone will feel it.

“It’s one important thing to win this kind of title, you have to be pushed, not just by the manager, but by everyone surrounding Manchester City that we have to win it – and still we don’t have that feeling.

“The feeling that the fans are pushing that we have to win the Champions League. Normally what happens is you get closer, that’s why I feel we are a really good team, it’s a pleasure to work with them. But in this competition you need something special, and still I don’t feel it. Maybe in the future, maybe with other players and other managers. I’m pretty sure we’ll be closer with the way the club is working over five or 10 years.

“Every year we’ll be closer and sooner or later it’s going to happen.”