City out to prove Guardiola wrong over Champions League credentials

Bernardo Silva is determined to prove to Pep Guardiola that Manchester City are ready to win the Champions League.

City boss Guardiola has repeatedly talked down the Premier League champions’ prospects in Europe’s top club competition.

Last month Guardiola said City were “not ready to fight for the Champions League” while this week he referred to them as “teenagers” among the continent’s elite.

But City hardly looked like novices as they thrashed Schalke 7-0 at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday to power into the quarter-finals with a 10-2 aggregate.

“Of course we will try to prove him wrong,” said Silva, who yesterday signed a new contract that will keep him at the Etihad until 2025. “We know it is a difficult competition, a special competition against the best teams in Europe, but we players will try to prove him wrong.”

He added: “It feels great but, to be honest, it doesn’t really matter that it was 10-2. What matters is we are through.

“We are very happy with the score, obviously. After that difficult game in Germany we weren’t expecting to win 7-0, but it’s good. The first game in Germany was very difficult. We won but we could have lost. We played with ten players for last 30 minutes. So it was not as easy as people might think, these two games, but 7-0 was really good for us.”

Meanwhile, Massimiliano Allegri praised hat-trick hero Cristiano Ronaldo after he underlined his status in Europe’s elite by firing Juventus into the Champions League quarter-finals. Juve trailed Atletico Madrid by two goals heading into the second leg in Turin but Ronaldo, pictured, overturned the deficit with three goals as Juventus progressed with a 3-2 aggregate victory.

“We weren’t perfect, but we did do well to remain concentrated,” said manager Allegri.

“It would’ve been really strange for Ronaldo to end his Champions League season with only one goal. He is among the best in the world, it can happen that in such games he makes these goals.” ● Championship Fanzone will appear in tomorrow’s edition of The Scotsman