MANCHESTER — His side live to fight another day, but Pep Guardiola is in no doubt that whatever Friday’s Champions League draw holds for Manchester City, his side will be underdogs. Winning the competition entirely? Right now, that is beyond his imagination.
Savinho inspired a second-half fightback that saw City overcome Club Brugge and secure their place in the knockout playoffs but a finish of 22nd in the 36-team table comes with consequences. Friday’s draw in Nyon will confirm the identity of their opponents but it will be either holders Real Madrid or Bayern Munich. Negotiate that and it wouldn’t get much easier, Bayer Leverkusen and Atletico Madrid lying in wait in the round of 16.
Against “two giants” of the sport, City look underpowered in their current form, which has seen them win just seven of their last 21 games in all competitions. Guardiola is hoping that the return of several injured players aids his side’s cause. Right now, however, his assessment is not a confident one.
“They are favorites, yes,” Guardiola said of his two possible opponents. “We have seen that this season but I don’t know what is going to happen in two weeks.”
Asked if he could imagine City winning the entire competition, Guardiola added: “Right now, no. The year that we won, I always thought we were going to win the Champions League.
“The reality is the reality. They have more experience than us. Madrid maybe struggled but the last games are back in the results, the way they played. Bayern Munich played an incredible season. If we had to play tomorrow it would be difficult. In two weeks, I don’t know the position we’ll be in and the players [we’ll have].
“The people in the locker room said Bayern Munich, Madrid, it’s ok, we’re going to prepare well and going to be fit. We’ll try it and see what happens.”
City were without injured defenders Ruben Dias and Nathan Ake on Wednesday but were able to welcome John Stones back into the starting XI for only the third time since the end of October. Jeremy Doku was unavailable but Guardiola’s initial assessment suggested his absence would not be a lengthy one while Oscar Bobb, out for five months with a broken leg, could return for the visit to Arsenal.
Guardiola’s Champions League squad will swell further for the knockout stage, where he will be able to register January signings Omar Marmoush, Abdukodir Khusanov and Vitor Reis. City will be limited to three additions to their squad, however, so any further additions would complicate matters somewhat. At full strength, this could be a team to be feared.
“I don’t know if they are happy to play against us,” said Guardiola. “It is what it is. Bayern and Madrid, we’re going to face the kings of this competition and maybe the second or third king.
“What I want, what I wish for the beginning of the season, is to have the team back. I accept Rodri from the beginning but not the other ones. We play this competition with 1,000 problems, against teams like Sporting, who we faced with Ruben Amorim when they were their best. After, they dropped. PSG, come on. Inter, we played really well and couldn’t win. Feyenoord was a tough, tough moment.
“If you had told me then that we’d arrive in the last game against Club Brugge with a chance to qualify, I’d have signed up. The team in that moment were not like we were, to compete in the biggest stages of the Champions League. That’s why I want in these two weeks Ruben, Nathan, the new signings, Jeremy, Oscar and everybody to come back.”
At half time, worrying about Madrid and Bayern Munich looked like a dream scenario for Guardiola, who joked that a fire at a merchandise stand two hours before the game looked like it was offering a perfect metaphor for headline writers. Misses from John Stones and Phil Foden early in the second half hinted at a nervy road ahead but the cool head of Mateo Kovacic prevailed, the Croatian driving through midfield and stroking the equalizer home. From there, it was the Savinho show, creating one move that ended in an own goal before scoring City’s third, but it was a four-time Champions League winner who had turned the tide.
“Kova was there and he has experience and he scored a fantastic goal,” said Guardiola. “I know Kova is able to break the lines in that way. It is something unique, something special. We did it and now it is time to enjoy it because it has been a really, really tough season in the Champions League. We struggled a lot, but finally, we could qualify and the draw is the draw.
“It has been so unstable this season. Today is a sense of relief to qualify.”
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