Pep Guardiola names four Champions League title contenders as Mikel Arteta sent Arsenal message

Pep Guardiola has named the four clubs he thinks have the mettle to win the Champions League, following Manchester City's elimination at the hands of Real Madrid. The Premier League outfit suffered a 6-3 aggregate defeat to Los Blancos in the play-offs, with Kylian Mbappe netting a hat-trick in the second-leg.

The Man City boss brutally overlooked Arsenal as contenders for the European crown and tipped the reigning champions as this year's favourites. Speaking to reporters at the Etihad Stadium after a 3-1 defeat to Real Madrid, Guardiola said: "Of course Madrid are a contender, definitely.

"But there are other good teams around. It will be an interesting Champions League season. Madrid are always favourites for this trophy. There are other teams who are having a very good season but Madrid are always favourites."

Guardiola added: "But there are other teams that are playing very well. Liverpool are having a really good season up until now, Barcelona are amazing, Paris Saint-Germain, with my friend Luis [Enrique] in charge, are on the march. But obviously, Madrid are favourites."

City's back-to-back defeats to Real Madrid – now three times in four years – have been a notable pattern in the knockouts, with Guardiola conceding that this time around, the better team won. The Spaniard said: "The best team won. They deserved it.

"This season we haven't been so good – I felt that, in the previous seasons, we were better than Madrid, but this time not so. In this competition, quality always counts. This season Madrid are capable of long [spells of] possession; they were dynamic, they're fast when they run and they pressed well."

Guardiola added: "What you have to do is accept it and move on. Nothing is eternal. It was hard to bring the 3-2 [first leg defeat] here but now we have to learn from this and accept that there are another, I don't know... 30 or 40 games to come [this season].

"We have to try to win the FA Cup, we have to try to finish in the top four in the league and we have to try to be back again in this competition next season. I have very little to reproach my squad for in terms of how they've played in the Champions League over the years."

Reminiscing about past clashes, Guardiola said: "When we were eliminated by Madrid in the past, I felt we were very close. We reached semi-finals and finals. Tonight, when a team is better sportingly than you, you have to accept it and congratulate them."

In the European scene, Arsenal is set to confront either PSV or Feyenoord in the round of 16. Both Dutch teams made headlines by eliminating powerhouses Juventus and AC Milan, respectively.

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