After defeating FC Copenhagen 3-1 to advance to their eighth consecutive quarterfinal, Pep Guardiola “has the feeling” that Manchester City can contend for the Champions League title once more.
Manuel Akanji, Julian Alvarez, and Erling Haaland scored goals in the first half at the Etihad to secure City’s 6-2 aggregate victory in the round of sixteen. The lone setback of the evening was Mohamed Elyounoussi’s consolation goal.
And ahead of the draw on Friday of next week, Guardiola maintains that his team is prepared to face any opponent in the final eight.
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He said: “Of course we respect the opponents but we have the feeling that the opponents think City will be a big battle too.
“I had the feeling when we arrived that the players didn’t feel that demand to always win.
“But the club gave us time to lose against Monaco, lose against Liverpool, lose against Tottenham and we went through the process to do it.
“Now the quarter-finals seven times. We won a lot of games the year we lost the final against Chelsea [2021], after that we won almost all of them the next season.
“We won all of them this season, so we are still there. We have that consistency and the feeling to win.”
Guardiola made seven changes from Sunday’s victory in the Manchester derby, but he insisted he had not rotated his team with this weekend’s meeting against Liverpool in mind.
During his post-match press conference, he made no mention of the Anfield encounter.
Furthermore, he thinks outsiders undervalue their calm advancement through matches like this one and Luton’s FA Cup game last week.
The Spaniard added: “I know how difficult it is.
“I know how their [Copenhagen’s] movement defensively is perfect. I respect them a lot.
“Real Madrid had problems going through against RB Leipzig tonight. We played Leipzig in the past and people said it’s not difficult. It is difficult.
“The FA Cup at Luton was difficult. People take it for granted.
“It is good our standards are there. But we know internally that everything is so complicated.”
The City manager also disclosed that Jeremy Doku, a winger, was injured and missed the victory over Copenhagen.