The pressure is on in Manchester. Pep Guardiola’s Manchester City are a little over 24 hours away from the final match of the revamped league phase of the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League, and they find themselves needing nothing less than three points against Club Brugge to qualify for the play-off spots.
It is impossible for the Cityzens to qualify directly for the round-of-16 – last week’s defeat to PSG made certain of that – and now there is the distinct possibility of an embarrassingly early exit from a competition they won less than two years ago in Istanbul.
Guardiola addressed the media on Tuesday to preview the clash, cutting an optimistic figure as he told reporters: “I know [the players] want it. I know how focused they are, and I don’t have doubts that we’ll perform what we have to do to go through – but with football, you never know.”
City find themselves in this precarious position as a result of their horrific pre-Christmas form, winning just once in 13 games across all competitions, and while Guardiola had appeared to guide his side back to safety, last week’s defeat to PSG threatens to derail their campaign.
But the Catalan manager told reporters that “it’s not a problem. It’s an opportunity, a challenge, and we will face it,” adding that he expects to face “a tough opponent” in Club Brugge on Wednesday.
“When a team is 20 games unbeaten, it’s because they’re good,” he accepted. “There are no secrets about that. They beat Aston Villa, [against] Juventus [and] Milan they played good. [Against] Celtic, they did really well. We have to read well what we have to do.”
“But every team – Manchester City included – has weaknesses. You have to find them and punish them.”
Guardiola and his side will be buoyed by the return of Oscar Bobb for this clash, with the Norwegian midfielder available for selection after returning to training earlier this month.
“I think Oscar came back as well,” Guardiola told reporters. “[John Stones] played 35 minutes [against Chelsea] and played really well, so we will see today how does he feel.”
Manchester City will be without Omar Marmoush, Vitor Reis and Abdukodir Khusanov on Wednesday though, with the trio of January signings ineligible to play in the UEFA Champions League.