Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola revealed he understands the pressure on him and his players to win the UEFA Champions League this season.
The former Barcelona and Bayern Munich coach has guided Man City to numerous titles, including four Premier League titles, four Carabao Cup trophies, one FA Cup, and two Community Shields since he joined in 2016 but has found it tough to replicate the dominance he had in the European tournament.
While speaking in a pre-match conference ahead of their Round of 16 second-leg tie against RB Leipzig, Guardiola disclosed he knows his success at the Manchester-based club will be judged on the Champions League, despite all the success he and his players have accrued over the years.
“Absolutely, I’ll be judged for that competition [UEFA Champions League],” the 52-year-old tactician said. “Because since day one here in the first game in the Champions League, they asked me when I just arrived, landed here, and sat down for the first time, “You are here to win the Champions League’. I said, What?”
“That is not going to happen if I am the manager of Real Madrid, and I can understand why. But here, I don’t know, but I accept it. So as much as you go through, that is not going to change.”
Guardiola further spoke on Norwegian striker Erling Haaland, who has 34 goals this season, including five in the Champions League. He urged the 22-year-old to be more involved in the team’s build-up and be more active in matches.
“I don’t like one player just to be in the box to score goals. Of course, that is important, it is the main thing, but it is not all we need of him” he said.
“Apart from that, when we are away from the opponent’s box, he cannot score a goal we need him to be involved [in play] and to be active.
“We have to look at him and he has to be involved in what we are doing. This we can improve and he has begun to improve a little bit but on this he can do better.”
The former Bayern Munich manager also pointed out the importance of City still being in three competitions as teams get set to head into the first international break of the year.
“It is Really important,” he added. “Not just that it will be a bad international break for the guys who don’t go to the national teams but for the fact to be alive, you know, for the last two months or two and a half months of the season, to be alive.
“So as much you can extend this chance to be there in the competitions to have the pleasure to still be in Europe or in the Premier League to try to be close to Arsenal. So, it will be good.”
City will welcome Die Roten Bullen to the Etihad on Tuesday after the first leg in Germany ended in a tightly contested 1-1 draw,
