Pep Guardiola admitted Manchester City must scrap to secure the best-case scenario of a Champions League playoff tie in February after seeing their latest defeat, a 2-0 reverse to Juventus, all but scupper their chances of automatic progress to the last 16.
City have now won once in 10 games and were well beaten in Turin despite dominating large chunks of the match. Now-familiar failings at both ends returned to haunt them and when a loose Josko Gvardiol clearance set Dusan Vlahovic’s opener in train the die was cast. They are 22nd in the 36-team table with a visit to Paris Saint-Germain and a home match against Club Brugge to conclude their schedule. A fall of three more places would see them eliminated while they are five points behind the top eight.
It means a finish between ninth and 24th, securing a second bite of the cherry but requiring two extra games in a packed calendar, will probably have to suffice. “It’s the target,” Guardiola said. “We need one point, three points. Go to Paris to try to do it, and the last game at home.”
Guardiola was characteristically defensive of his team’s display. Erling Haaland missed their best chance in the 39th minute and they knocked on the door before Weston McKennie put the match beyond their reach. “We played good: really, really good,” he said. “We missed the last pass, the last action when we arrived, and we conceded chances in some transitions. It happens but I am so proud of these players.”
Asked whether he was questioning himself amid a run unprecedented during his tenure, he replied: “Of course I question myself. I’m stable in good moments, bad moments. I try to find a way to do it. I’m incredibly honest, if we play good we play good. Always the game will save us.”
After the match Ilkay Gündogan had said City were low on confidence, suggesting a “mental issue” in their loss of rhythm. “In crucial moments, at the moment, we are always doing the wrong things,” Gündogan continued, but his manager’s take was more sanguine.
“I’m not agreeing with Ilkay,” Guardiola said. “Of course it’s tough. Except one or two games in this period that were not good, the rest we played good.”
