Pep Guardiola makes bold Man City Champions League claim for next season

Man City are still not certain of Champions League football, but Pep Guardiola claims his side can lift the trophy next season, provided their fans get fully behind their team

Pep Guardiola has called on Manchester City’s fans to haul them over the line in the race for a Champions League spot – starting tomorrow.

The race for next season’s Champions League could not be tighter, with City, Newcastle, Chelsea, Nottingham Forest and Aston Villa separated by just two points – the five teams fighting for three spots. City, currently fourth, host seventh-placed Villa tomorrow, with Guardiola describing the game as “a final” and urging his side’s supporters to push the team closer to their goal of qualification.

Guardiola even claimed City, who lifted the trophy in 2023 but failed to make the last 16 this season, can go all the way and win it again next year – if their fans get behind the team.

“We we need our people, because I think our people will win the Champions League next season again,” said Guardiola. “Hopefully they can help us for the minute one.

“Don’t wait, because sometimes we’re sloppy, sometimes we’re not playing well, but it’s now that we need them. We need them desperately, to support us, to make noise and be there all the time, because it’s a final, absolutely it’s a final for us.

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“And after Aston Villa, it will be the game against Wolves and it will be a final again.

“Then Southampton, because every point, every game, counts. It’s a contender to qualify for the Champions League and you see both games they played against my friend Luis Enrique, against Paris St Germain – wow! I was really, really impressed.

“They can play in a low block or not, but when they decide to go forward, with the weapons they have, with the speed they have, the set-pieces, and the way they organise, it’s a final.”

Villa underlined their quality this season with progress to the Champions League quarter-finals, which was ultimately ended by PSG, despite Unai Emery’s side beating them 3-2 at Villa Park.

One player Guardiola knows he will have to pay particular attention to is Villa forward Morgan Rogers, who was at City for four years, before joining Middlesbrough in 2023. Rogers has 14 goals this season, his performances for Villa earning him a full England call-up, with Guardiola fully aware of his talent and the threat he will pose to City.

“He was in the second team here and trained sometimes with us,” said Guardiola. “We could see something, that he could do it, but the impact he’s had in Villa – what a player. We had an exceptional player here, absolutely.”

One youngster who has emerged as a first-team regular in recent weeks is 20-year-old Nico O’Reilly, who has started City’s last four games, scoring in the last two. A midfielder, O’Reilly has shown his versatility by switching to left-back, with Guardiola impressed by his adaptability and maturity, despite his relative inexperience.

“The season is long, his impact has been good and now we have one game a week,” said Guardiola. “Nico has to recover and he has to see if he can play every three days like, for example, Bernardo has proven or Kevin De Bruyne has proven.

“I don’t know if these young players are able to play three games a week, but I admire a lot the fact that he’s playing in a position he’s never played before.”

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