I’ve been a failure as Man City boss – Guardiola
Pep Guardiola says he will be viewed as a failure as Manchester City boss if he does not win the Champions League during his time at the club.
City take a 2-1 aggregate lead to Borussia Dortmund for the second leg of their quarter-final tie on Wednesday.
They have not reached the semi-finals under Guardiola, going out in the last eight for the last three seasons.
“I know if we don’t win I’ll be a failure and if we do it’s ‘how good is Pep’,” said Guardiola.
City’s preparations were hampered by a series of fireworks being let off outside the team hotel in the early hours of Wednesday morning.
On two occasions during the night explosions woke players and staff before a third attempt was prevented by the Blues’ own security staff.
City’s cause will be boosted by the absence of Dortmund’s Jadon Sancho from the second leg, with the England and ex-City forward still recovering from the thigh injury that prevented him playing in the first leg.However, the German side’s away goal at the Etihad means they would advance with a 1-0 win on home soil and Guardiola is urging his side to focus on their plan rather than worry about the permutations.
“If you think of the consequences or goals you have to score or concede, you forget what you have to do,” he said. “It doesn’t matter what happens in the first leg, you have a chance in the second.
“It will be better they don’t score and we win, but in the Champions League you always have a chance. We have weapons to score, they have weapons to score.
“Our idea is to go there do as best as possible and let them feel we are not going to defend what we got here. We want to impose our game to win the game.”
The winners will play Paris St-Germain in the two-legged semi-final after PSG, managed by former Tottenham boss Mauricio Pochettino, edged out reigning holders Bayern Munich.
The German side won 1-0 in the second leg in France on Tuesday, but lost on the away-goals rule after it finished 3-3 on aggregate following PSG’s 3-2 win in the first leg.
