The Champions League has eluded Pep Guardiola at Manchester City, and his job would at the club would not be complete without it.
Pep Guardiola insisted a desire to win the Champions League was not his only motivation for signing a new Manchester City contract, but he accepts the job would feel incomplete without a European triumph.
Guardiola secured an extension at City last month and will keep him at the club until the end of the 2024-25 season.
City have enjoyed huge domestic success under the former Bayern Munich and Barcelona boss, winning the Premier League four times in the last five seasons.
However, a win in the Champions League eluded them. They lost to Chelsea in the final in 2021 and lost to Real Madrid in the semi-finals last season.
Guardiola knows it will be a blot on his record if City can’t end their run of bad luck in the competition before he leaves.
“I admit it’s a trophy we want and of course it wouldn’t be complete – my period here – if we don’t win it,” Guardiola told reporters ahead of City’s EFL Cup tie with Liverpool.
“But it’s not the only reason I extended my contract, definitely not. What does it mean when we haven’t played in the Champions League for the last 11 months?”
“Of course I will do everything we are together, we will try as we have tried before. Of course it is a trophy that we do not have and we will try for it.”
City’s trophy haul under Guardiola is 11, but the 51-year-old is extremely grateful for the faith shown in him by the club’s management.
“I have said many times what I had here. Thank you very much for the trust they have in me,” he said. “It would be hard to repay what the board, all the people have shown me over the years.
“It’s hard for me to turn them down because of how much they still want me and my staff to try and do our best.
“I don’t have enough words to express my incredible gratitude to this club.
After taking on Liverpool on Thursday, City restart their Premier League campaign against Leeds United on December 28.
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