MAN CITY V NEWCASTLE

4.30PM TOM, SKY SPORTS

PEP GUARDIOLA fears a Champions League hangover from his Manchester City stars when they return to the title race tomorrow.

City host in-form Newcastle and could find themselves two points behind Liverpool if Jurgen Klopp’s men beat Tottenham tonight.

Whatever the gap at the top, Guardiola knows his side’s semi-final exit at Real Madrid on Wednesday will still be weighing heavily on the minds of his players.

He said: “How are we going to forget it? We are going to play against Newcastle thinking about that for sure.

“How am I going to tell my players to forget that? No. That is why I am a manager, to experience the good and bad moments and I love it. Now it feels like a tragedy but they will be good [useful] memories.

“I am not the person to judge my players, they will do it themselves. I know how hard it is.

“We will recover. It’s football, accept it and now we have a big challenge over the next two weeks, especially this week, where we have the Premier League season in our hands.” Guardiola admitted he may never go on to win the

Champions League as City boss but insisted if that happens it does not mean he is a failure.

He added: “It’s a question I cannot answer. I’m starving [to win it]. Maybe I’m not good enough to help the team do it.

“Football is incredibly unpredictable. We saw it. Maybe I’m wrong but I have the feeling the people from

Abu Dhabi bought this club and invested in these incredible facilities and players to do what we have lived in the past years, not just win the Champions League.

“Next season we will try again, knowing it’s so difficult. I know all the people want us to do it, since day one I’ve had to handle that.

“But it’s also about being there again in the Premier League, in the FA Cup semifinals, in the Champions League semi-finals and winning the Carabao Cup four times.

“This is where the club wants to be, that’s why they seduced me to be here.

“The club never asked me to win any title, they asked me to play as well as possible, to compete with all the teams in England and all the teams in Europe.

“This is the reason why. It’s completely the opposite to

what people think.”