We have failed if we don’t win the Champions League- Pep Guardiola

Published at :November 27, 2018 at 12:58 PM

Modified at :November 27, 2018 at 12:58 PM

The Premier League outfit face the side to whom they lost earlier in the group stage this season.

Manchester City are set to play their fifth game of UEFA Champions League 2018-19, against Lyon in France. They face a grim challenge of holding the French team in their own backyard after facing a defeat in the earlier fixtures not so long ago. City's gaffer, Pep Guardiola understands the importance of the game and the trophy as he claims that his time at Manchester City will be tipped off as a failure if they fail to win the coveted UCL trophy.

Since arriving in 2016, Guardiola's City have spent more than half-a-billion pounds as they have won three silverware in the name of Premier League(2017-18), EFL Cup(2017-18) and Community Shield(2018).

“For the people who don’t love us too much, who use money as an argument, then we have failed if we don’t win the Champions League,” said Guardiola. "For the others, especially our fans who say they enjoy watching our games and enjoy what we are doing, I’m pretty sure they won’t have regrets about what these guys have been doing every three days for the last 15 months."

Guardiola added, “That is the best compliment, the best success the team can have. But, of course, we want to qualify, continue our level in the Premier League and arrive in the best possible condition with everybody fit to challenge again to go quite far."

Manchester City are on a brink of sealing their Round of 16 qualification, as they need atleast a point and win will mean a top spot in Group F

“After that, the competition speaks for itself. We can have a lot of desire and wishes but the competition is so tough,” said Pep Guardiola.

Lyon caused an upset to the Cityzens in the reverse fixture at the Etihad Stadium in September. Since then, they have won each and every game in the European competition.

Guardiola said: “They were better. In the first half they were better than us. They have a strong team. They have top, top players."

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Lyon have drawn their last three games, registering just a single win on the opening day against Manchester City. But Guardiola is not taking any chances after that night in Manchester.

"When you lose the first game at home the group stage becomes so tough but we did our job, winning the next three and the other opponents drew. We tried to avoid arriving in the last game demanding a win to qualify and we have a big chance tomorrow. We reacted so well but the job is not over. Hopefully we can close it tomorrow,” said Guardiola

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Bernardo Silva, Ilkay Gundogan and Gabriel Jesus have stayed home due to injury concerns. “I would prefer to have all the squad but it is what it is,” Guardiola said. “We have to adapt.”