Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City team is considered one of the top contenders to challenge Real Madrid and claim the Champions League title for the 2024/2025 season.
City finally achieved their long-standing goal of winning Europe’s premier club competition in June last year, and they aim to replicate that success at Wembley Stadium in 2024.
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However, Jamie Carragher has expressed doubts about City’s chances in the Champions League, especially now that Rodri, one of their key players, is out for the season with an ACL injury…Continue Reading
This injury might motivate Manchester City even more to prove they can dominate European football without one of their most influential players. Guardiola has also expressed a desire to avoid facing Barcelona in this year’s tournament.
City have had a strong start to the current European campaign, drawing against Inter and thrashing Slovan Bratislava 4-0 earlier this month.
Their upcoming group-stage opponents include Sparta Prague, Sporting CP, Feyenoord, Juventus, Paris Saint-Germain, and Club Bruges, before the tournament moves to its next phase.
Barcelona, on the other hand, began their Champions League journey with a loss to Monaco but bounced back with a resounding 5-0 victory over Young Boys.
Guardiola admitted that he would prefer not to face his former club, Barcelona, this season, largely for sentimental reasons. He revealed this during his appearance on the Italian chat show Che Tempo Che Fa on Sunday when asked about the team he most wanted to avoid in this year’s competition.
‘Good question. Barcelona maybe,’ Guardiola replied. ‘The affection I have for them destroys me. I was born in a small town nearby, it’s never easy to play against them.’
When asked how he felt about the new Champions League format, Guardiola said: ‘I don’t understand, I just coach.
‘I think we’ll be able to answer this question only at the end of the season.’
Guardiola also paid huge tribute to Lionel Messi when asked how he got the best out of the Argentine superstar during their time together at Barcelona.
‘You have to know him,’ Guardiola said. ‘For me it’s easy to say that he is the best player of all time, but the stars came together at that moment.
‘Maybe it’s a lack of respect for Pele and Maradona, but for me he is [the best of all time]. I’ve never seen someone like him in training, you couldn’t imagine that he could maintain this continuity for 15-20 years.
‘When you see him up close, you think of Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan – we were lucky to be contemporaries of these characters. I think of Sorrentino’s ‘The Great Beauty’… it’s a great title for that team.’
