Man City still not favourites for Champions League – Pep Guardiola
Pep Guardiola does not see Manchester City as favourites for the Champions League even after they eased to a last-16 first-leg victory over Borussia Monchengladbach to win their 19th match in a row.
Bernardo Silva and Gabriel Jesus got the goals as City won the away leg 2-0 to take control of the tie.
The only negative for City was that they didn’t score more, but they still look in ominous form as they aim to win the competition for the first time, even if Guardiola isn’t ready to call them favourites.
Longest winning streaks by an English top-flight club in all competitions:
🥇19, Man City in 2020-21
🥈14, Arsenal in 1987
🥈14, Preston in 1891-92 pic.twitter.com/2pTXbc80bM— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 24, 2021
“When I see Bayern Munich yesterday [4-1 win over Lazio] I don’t think we are favourites,” the City boss told BT Sport.
“My target is West Ham in three days, it’s a big challenge to recover the players and arrive there in the best condition as possible.
“If people say we are favourites we have to accept it, but a team who in their whole history has been in a semi-final once OK, they say it, we have to accept it.”
Reflecting on the game, Guardiola added: “In general, we controlled the game. Unfortunately today we were not clinical enough up front.
19 WINS IN A ROW FOR MAN CITY 🤯
✅ Southampton
✅ Arsenal
✅ Newcastle
✅ Chelsea
✅ Man United
✅ Birmingham
✅ Brighton
✅ Palace
✅ Villa
✅ Cheltenham
✅ West Brom
✅ Sheffield United
✅ Burnley
✅ Liverpool
✅ Swansea
✅ Spurs
✅ Everton
✅ Arsenal
✅ Monchengladbach pic.twitter.com/sn0N26Nkdl— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) February 24, 2021
Read Also:Man City beat Gladbach in Champions League for 19th win in a row
“That is something we have to improve in this competition. Up front we have to be more clinical. In this competition you have to be perfect to make sure you go through.”
The second leg will take place at the Etihad Stadium on March 16 with City strong favourites to advance to the quarter-finals.