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PEP: ‘IT WON’T BE THE END OF THE WORLD IF BLUES DON’T WIN CHAMPIONS LEAGUE’
PEP Guardiola has tried to ease the pressure on his City players by saying it won’t be the end of the world if the Blues fail to win the Champions League this season.
City are 22 points behind runaway Premier League leaders Liverpool but face Real Madrid in the last-16 of the Champions League later this month.
Ahead of the first leg in the Bernabeu on February 26, the Blues boss said
■ Hundreds of United fans gathered outside Old Trafford yesterday to mark the 62nd anniversary of the Munich air disaster, which claimed the lives of 23 people. Among those paying tribute yesterday were Jimmy Murphy Jnr (top right) and Reds manager Ole Gunnar Solskjaer (bottom right) failure in Europe this season would not be a disaster for the club.
“City was a club that for a decade wanted to just stay in the Premier League but then suddenly, they were bought and they took a leap forward and won four leagues in a decade,” Guardiola said during an interview with Spanish YouTube channel Post United.
“The only thing they don’t have is a Champions League and it’s normal that people ask for it. It’s good that they ask for it.
“I will try, and if not this year then next year... the world won’t end if you don’t win it.”
Guardiola has failed to get beyond the quarter-finals of the Champions League in each of his three previous seasons in charge of City and has not reached the final of the competition since he won it as Barcelona manager in 2011.
The City boss was also asked about the possibility of Kevin de Bruyne joining Real Madrid and joked the Spanish club’s president Florentino Perez would have to call him directly.
“Could De Bruyne play in Madrid,” he said.
“Florentino will have to call me.”
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