PEP FEELS CITY NEED A LESSON
PEP GUARDIOLA says his Manchester City side may need to “suffer” in the Champions League group stage to prove they can lift the trophy.
City suffered a shock defeat at home by Lyon in their opening group game and take on Hoffenheim tonight needing a win to get their European campaign going.
They qualified with ease from the group stage in the past two seasons, only to fall to Monaco in the last 16 in 2017 and in the quarter-finals to Liverpool last season.
City boss Guardiola believes the Lyon defeat may ultimately work in City’s favour by toughening them up for the knockout stages.
“The last two seasons we’ve qualified quite comfortably,” said Guardiola.
“Maybe we have to realise how complicated the competition is and suffer in the group stage to make a step forward in the knockout games.
“If we’re not able to do that, it means we’re not good enough and we’ll prepare much better for next season. It’s simple. from DAVID McDONNELL
“In the Champions League we don’t have time to lose a lot of games. We know well-equipped. Firstly we’ve got to deal the situation we’re in. We have five finals with the fact we lost to Lyon, worry about and this is the first one. Hoffenhiem and then, if we get momentum,
“It’s a top-level competition and every anything is possible. team is so good, which is why it’s so complicated. “It’s the last step we haven’t achieved Apart from Real Madrid, nobody yet and the club is always aiming to else has won the Champions League in progress. the past three years, so it’s tough.”
City skipper Vincent Kompany knows winning Europe’s top trophy is the club’s final challenge – and their hardest.
“I’d love to win it with City, but it’s such a tough competition,” said the defender.
“It’s okay to say we want to win it but there are other teams who are just as
Difficult
“There’s nothing more we haven’t achieved but this is such a difficult competition to win.”
Premier League leaders City, who have lost their last four Champions League games, are expected to beat Hoffenheim, currently 11th in the Bundesliga and coming off the back of a 2-1 home defeat by RB Leipzig at the weekend.
Guardiola also ruled out making a move for Paris St-Germain’s £200mrated forward Kylian Mbappe, a World Cup winner with France.
“That is not going to happen,” he said. “Manchester City aren’t going to spend the money that Mbappe deserves, or that PSG deserves.
“PSG are not going to sell this kind of player to any other club in the world in the next years, I guess.
“Mbappe is not going to come here, we are not going to swap Raheem Sterling or another top player that we have.”