I’ll define success, says Pep

PEP GUARDIOLA has conceded that his team may never be recognised as one of the alltime greats if they do not win the Champions League, but insists that his players should not concern themselves with such external validations of their achievements.

In a season-defining week, in which Manchester City take on Liverpool today in the Premier League title decider, next weekend in the FA Cup semi and in which they travel to Madrid to defend a 1-0 lead over Atletico in the Champions League quarterfinal, Guardiola admits that failure to win in Europe would mean his team would always be judged as having failed in the ultimate quest.

Guardiola said: ‘To get the recognition of everyone in the world we need to conquer Europe. Is it going to happen? I don’t know. So

far, what we’ve done here makes me incredibly happy. First of all, we had fun. We did many, many good things, that’s my feeling. But whether it’s enough doesn’t matter.’

Guardiola’s team have won three Premier League titles, four League Cups and one FA Cup, and established new records by winning the Premier League title with 100 points in 2018 and 98 points in 2019. But he insists his team cannot be motivated by how outsiders rank them.

‘I think we’ve had incredible compliments. Sometimes to be happy we get the proof from outside to be happy inside and that’s stupid. [Sometimes] what we want is proof from the outside that what we’ve done is right. [But] it is right what we’ve done and it is right what we’re doing.

‘The things we’ve done and the way we’ve done it, dominating many times. I’m sure you will agree with me, the period of five seasons is a long time. These seasons we were always there and that is good.’