Manchester City cannot win the Champions League this season admits Pep Guardiola

Pep Guardiola is of the belief that the current form of his Manchester City side are unable to be considered in contention for this season’s UEFA Champions League title.

The reigning Premier League champions scraped through into the next round of the competition in 22nd position in the tournament’s brand new league format, having come back from behind to defeat Belgian side Club Brugge on Wednesday night.

Manchester City came into the contest languishing in 25th position, and upon going behind in the clash fell to 26th, largely as a result of poor results away to Sporting CP, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain, as well as a 3-3 home draw against Feyenoord on matchday five.

However, the task was very simple for Pep Guardiola and his players, who knew that any sort of win would book themselves a play-off place to compete for progression into the last-16, and having brought on Savinho at the half-time interval, that is exactly what happened.

But the Premier League giants remain some way off a last-16 side, having now found out that two of the competition’s heavyweights will now await in a two-legged play-off due to take place across February.

Speaking after Manchester City’s 3-1 comeback victory over Club Brugge on matchday eight of the league phase, Pep Guardiola was informed of the club’s fate in the last-16 play-off round, as the draw awaits with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich as potential opponents.

“I don’t know if they are happy to play against us,” said Guardiola. “Real Madrid or Bayern Munich; one is the king of the competition, the other one is maybe the second or third king of the competition.”

The Manchester City boss continued, “I’m pretty sure we will try, we will create problems against Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. I’m pretty sure something we are able to do, because these players also have something special. And we will try to do it.

“What I want in the next two weeks is Ruben [Dias], Nathan [Ake], the new signings, Jeremy [Doku], Oscar [Bobb] – everybody comes back, and they can compete.”

But can Manchester City really go all the way in this season’s UEFA Champions League, despite their run of poor form in the league phase of the competition and their various struggles in the Premier League that have left them trailing the leading title contenders.

“Right now, no,” Guardiola admitted. “But the year that we won, always I thought we were going to win the Champions League. I’m so pragmatic, and the reality is the reality. They have more experience than us.

“[Real] Madrid maybe struggled, but in the last games they’re back in results, the way they play. Bayern Munich is playing an incredible season so far with Vinny [Kompany]… If we had to play tomorrow, it’d be difficult.

“But in two weeks, I don’t know how the opposition will be… We’re going to prepare well, be fit, and we’ll see what happens.”

Discussing the status of his current squad of players, the 54-year-old coach stressed, “We are an old team; Kevin [De Bruyne] is 34, [Ilkay] Gundo is 33, Mateo [Kovacic], and we don’t have replacements, so they play a lot of minutes.

“That’s why we’re so grateful for the effort Gundo has done, and Kova, and of course Kevin to come back as quick as possible – that is the reality.

“That’s why I’m a little bit scared to play these transitional games against Newcastle, Liverpool, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Brighton – they are miles away better than us.”

Manchester City will return to Premier League action this weekend as they travel south to the capital for a top-flight meeting with Mikel Arteta’s Arsenal, with the Etihad club buoyant off the back of last weekend’s 3-1 home win over Chelsea and Champions League positivity.