Pep Guardiola makes Manchester City claim that even he might not believe
The Manchester City manager has seen his side struggle this season as their Premier League dominance has come to an end, and now they're in a top four fight
by Alex Richards · The MirrorPep Guardiola insists qualifying for the Champions League this season will be a "huge success" for Manchester City.
Whether he's trying to convince himself, his players or the outside world, we can only guess, but after four successive Premier League titles, few others would claim this season as anything like a success, with City currently fifth ahead of Saturday's meeting with Brighton - who are just one point behind them.
A place at Europe's top table next season is far from certain, with a number of other clubs also fighting for European places.
And. speaking on Friday, Guardiola said: “Brighton are one of the best clubs working on and off the pitch. The position where they are right now is because they are doing many good things and they deserve to be there.
“And Bournemouth, and Aston Villa, and Newcastle, and maybe Fulham will be there – fantastic teams. It’s not a surprise, I have the feeling that they deserve it. They are really good, consistent, they have incredible weapons in the way they play.
“It’s a big fight. It’s not a disappointment to be here. It’s a challenge. If we are able to qualify for the Champions League, it would be a huge success from my point of view.
“There are seasons that you have to live this but it is in our hands, it depends on us. We don’t have to look at any other things than our performance.”
City missed the chance to move back to third in the table when they were beaten at Nottingham Forest, another of the European contenders, last weekend.
It was their ninth defeat of the league campaign and Guardiola later referred to his side’s remaining fixtures as “10 finals”.
He said: “We have to reach the highest possible level to qualify for Europe next season. We have to be consistent as much as possible. Most of the games are really tough and we have to do better because there are many teams with this target and we missed an important chance last week.”
City would ordinarily have expected to have been involved in the Champions League this week but their premature exit at the play-off stage instead left them watching from home.
“It doesn’t hurt,” he said. “People say it does but I don’t have any disappointment or regret.
“We didn’t deserve to be there. Just enjoy the fantastic games – I was just a spectator to learn and enjoy.”
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