Manchester City finally have a marquee victory in the knockout stages of the Champions League after seeing off Real Madrid to reach the last eight, but they want much more in Lisbon over the next week with Pep Guardiola insisting they cannot be satisfied by beating the 13-time winners, reports AFP.
“We’re here to try and win the Champions League,” said Guardiola in a markedly different tone to the one he has struck in previous seasons when claiming City were not ready to be crowned champions of Europe
despite dominating the Premier League.
“If we think that (beating Real) is enough we will show how small we are. If you want to win you have to beat the big clubs.”
It took City eight seasons in the Champions League to beat a former winner over two legs, but disposing of Madrid both home and away, pre and post football’s shutdown for coronavirus showed a maturity and ability to handle pressure situations that Guardiola’s men have lacked in previous Champions League campaigns.
A clash with Lyon, who finished seventh in the curtailed 2019/20 Ligue 1 season, offers further reason for City to be optimistic. But in the past three seasons since Guardiola arrived in Manchester, City have contrived to crash out despite being heavily favoured against Monaco, Liverpool and Tottenham.
“I just spoke with the scouting department about Lyon and they told me to be alert,” warned Guardiola after Lyon shocked Juventus in the last 16.
The French side also showed what they are capable of in taking four points from a possible
six against City in the group stages of in last season’s Champions League.
One of Guardiola’s former clubs, Barcelona or Bayern Munich, will lie in wait for the winner between City and Lyon, but they are the only two former winners left in the competition.
Guardiola has often bemoaned the lack of atmosphere at the Etihad for big European nights compared the cauldrons of the Camp Nou, Anfield or Santiago Bernabeu, but a behind closed doors environment for all remaining games negates that disadvantage.
