Guardiola Adamant Man City Can Defend Champions League Title

Manchester City booked their place in the last eight of the competition after dispatching Danish side FC Copenhagen 3-1 at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday night.

That win completed a 6-2 aggregate triumph for the holders, who won the competition for the first time in their history last season.

The likes of Bayern Munich, Real Madrid and Paris Saint Germain have all secured passage to the quarterfinal stage of the competition but Guardiola believes Manchester City have shown enough consistency over recent seasons to be considered as one of the favourites.

Guardiola said: “We are a team that believes we can do it. Listen, we’re competing with Real Madrid and Bayern Munich, but the important thing is that seven years in a row we are here. Consistency.

“I felt the people when we arrived from a club like Barcelona and Bayern Munich – where they demand to always be there – I felt the club, not the players, didn’t feel it.

“We are here because we needed time. People, managers don’t get time, hierarchies don’t get time. But they gave us time to lose against Monaco, lose against Liverpool, lose against Tottenham – all (part of) the process to do it, because when a team comes from never ever being in that position, you cannot do it.

“It is easy for clubs that have big history – start with the best ones, Real Madrid, Barcelona, Liverpool, Bayern Munich or Man United – they have been used to it.

“You need time and they gave me time. Now we are in a process where we can lose, definitely, but we can compete everywhere because we’ve come from the final, semi-final, final, now the quarter-finals again. That means our consistency in Europe.”