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Liverpool Echo
Liverpool Echo
Sport
Charlotte Coates

'We’re not obsessed' - Man City chief sends blunt message to Liverpool as Champions League claim made

Manchester City CEO Ferran Soriano has insisted the bosses at the club are not 'obsessed' with winning the Champions League.

The Premier League champions have been in the final just once when they lost to Chelsea in 2021. Pep Guardiola's side were moments away from their second final in two years last season, but a late collapse against Real Madrid ended their chances of taking on rivals Liverpool in the showpiece final in Paris.

Pressure is not coming from the clubs hierarchy to win the competition, Soriano has highlighted how City have simply been unlucky so far in their Champions League journey.

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Speaking on the Dr Football Podcast (via SportBible ), Soriano said: “We don’t make this [the Champions League] the core of our objectives because of what I said; luck plays a role in the Champions League because there are a handful of games that you can have a bad game in, in the semi-finals and you’re out.

“Whoever wins the league is the best team in the league. We say internally, ‘The league is our bread and butter. This is what we do for a living; the league'.

“The Champions League is an additional trophy that we want but we know that it might be subject to a bit of luck so we’re not obsessed.”

City's CEO used Madrid as an example for how luck is needed to win the Champions League: "People say now about the success that Real Madrid have had in the last years and I think it’s fair to say that there’s been a bit of luck.

"Maybe I could say that they deserved to lose against PSG, against Chelsea, against us, against Liverpool. But, people do not remember that in the 90s, 80s, Real Madrid had a fantastic team, one of the best in history with Butragueno and they couldn’t win.

"They were knocked out of the Champions (League). We’re patient, this is not an obsession, we will win it at the right time.”

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