Pep Guardiola pinpoints last gap in his Manchester City reign

The 51-year-old signed a new contract during the World Cup break, extending his City stay until 2025. If he sees out the deal, Guardiola will have been at the club for nine years - longer than his four-year spell with Barcelona and three with Bayern Munich combined.

Guardiola has won nine leading trophies with City, including four Premier League titles, but the Champions League has eluded the Spaniard in Manchester so far, with the club reaching three quarter-finals, a semi-final and the 2021 final, which they lost to Chelsea. City looked on course to reach last season’s final but conceded two stoppage-time goals to Real Madrid, eventually going out 6-5 on aggregate after extra time in the second leg in Spain.

Asked if becoming European champions with City was the main goal and factor in his decision to stay on, Guardiola replied: “It’s not the only one but I admit it’s the trophy we want, and my period here will not be complete if we don’t win it.

“I want to say thank you for the confidence they have in me, [it’s] difficult to repay what they have shown me, the confidence they have. [It was] difficult for me to reject them and they want me and my staff to continue. There are not enough words to express my gratitude to Khaldoon [Al Mubarak], the CEO, and everyone in the club to have me here.”

City face RB Leipzig in the round of 16 having topped group G with four wins and two draws.

“I have the feeling they’ll get it sooner or later,” Guardiola said of his side’s attempts to win the Champions League. “We’ve tried in the past, even in the first season even though we went out in the last 16, we will try with all our strength.”

Before then, City face Liverpool at home in the Carabao Cup tonight (Thursday), but Guardiola thinks that his City players who competed in the World Cup will be better prepared for the return of the club season than those who stayed at home.

City had 16 players in the tournament, with only a handful of first- teamers, such as Erling Haaland and Riyad Mahrez, staying behind.

With five English players and three Portuguese returning to training on Wednesday, Guardiola is only waiting on the Brazil goalkeeper Ederson and the World Cup-winning Argentina striker Julian Alvarez to return.

Alvarez is being allowed time off after making it to the final with his return as yet unconfirmed, while Ederson could be in contention for the Premier League game away to Leeds United on Wednesday.

Like all managers, Guardiola is unsure how his squad is going to deal with the restart; however, the Spaniard thinks it could be the players who were not involved in Qatar who will struggle with rustiness.

“I have the feeling that the players that were at the World Cup are in a better condition than players who were here, for sure. Erling [Haaland], Riyad [Mahrez], Cole [Palmer], they miss a little bit of rhythm when you compare that to Manu Akanji and Rodri and Nathan [Ake] and they came back perfectly so they compete and train every day and we had holidays,” Guardiola said.

The likes of Kevin De Bruyne, Akanji and Rodri have already impressed Guardiola in training since returning so could be in line to play tonight (Thursday).

But while the City manager has no concerns about what he has seen on the training pitch he admitted that he has no idea how the next few months will play out and whether or not the strange timing of this year’s World Cup will hamper his players further down the line.

“I’m concerned now, I’m concerned in March or April, I’m more concerned now how they behave, how they are,” Guardiola said. “They have played with different managers and different competition and we restart where we are, it’s been a long, long time,” he said. “The mind was away. We immediately have an important competition tomorrow (Friday) and then against Leeds. The January schedule is so demanding.

“I think all the managers are the same so I don’t know how it will behave. I play sometimes after holiday two or three training sessions and play mainly Super Cups in Spain, for example, but they come fresh here, they know their routines. Now in the middle of the season after a World Cup, good moments and bad moments, I don’t know how they’ll come back, whether they come back fit or fat. We will see.”

Guardiola faces a side tonight (Thursday) with whom the rivalry has intensified in recent years with standards of behaviour among fans not the only focal point.

Asked if the managers have a responsibility to set an example from the dugout, Guardiola replied: “We want to behave good - the players, the managers, the spectators but sometimes emotions and many things happen . . . but respect for the officials, the rules and the opponent is always there from my point of view.”

Originally published as Pep Guardiola pinpoints last gap in his Manchester City reign