Pep Guardiola on Wednesday said that Manchester City have earned their place among the perennial contenders for UEFA Champions League glory after reaching the quarter-finals for a seventh consecutive season.
Guardiola could even afford the luxury of resting a host of star names in a 3-1 victory over Copenhagen at the Etihad Stadium that completed a 6-2 aggregate rout.
Goals from Manuel Akanji and Julian Alvarez killed the tie as a contest inside 10 minutes, before Erling Haaland drilled in his 29th goal of the season.
Photo: AP
Mohamed Elyounoussi briefly reduced the Danish champions’ deficit to 2-1 on the night, but Copenhagen were outclassed over two legs as the European champions remain on course for another treble.
City conquered Europe for the first time in the club’s history last season, but Guardiola acknowledged his side are now seen as favorites for the competition ahead of the likes of Real Madrid and Bayern Munich.
The English champions have not lost a Champions League game at the Etihad since 2018 and became the first side in the competition’s history to score three or more goals in nine consecutive home games.
“The important thing is being there [in the quarter-finals] seven years in a row, it’s quite impressive,” Guardiola said. “We are well respected from our opponents. The numbers are there — our consistency. I remember when I arrived, we didn’t believe, the club didn’t believe we could do it, because we didn’t have the hierarchy in Europe like teams in Spain or Germany. It was a question of time, a process.”
“The problem is the managers in modern football don’t have time. They gave me time, our hierarchy, so credit to them to accept the process. Now we are a team that believe we can do it,” he said.
Guardiola showed he had one eye on Sunday’s top-of-the-table English Premier League clash at Liverpool as he made seven changes from the side that beat Manchester United.
Kevin de Bruyne, Phil Foden and Bernardo Silva were among those to spend the 90 minutes on the bench to rest up ahead of the trip to Anfield.
In the other round-of-16 tie, Real Madrid scraped into the quarter-finals with a 1-1 second-leg draw against RB Leipzig, progressing 2-1 on aggregate.
The record 14-time champions were far below their best, but did just enough over the two legs of the clash to edge out their opponents.
Despite Leipzig shading the game, Vinicius Junior opened the scoring in the 65th minute after being set up by Jude Bellingham.
Willi Orban quickly leveled for the visitors, but they could not find a second goal to force extra-time at the Santiago Bernabeu.
Real Madrid coach Carlo Ancelotti said his team suffered and did not approach the game well mentally.
“We played badly, with little intensity, with worries ... the psychological aspect conditioned our game a lot,” Ancelotti told Movistar. “We played against an opponent with quality, who had nothing to lose, and we had the brakes on from start to finish — we suffered, but the important thing was to get to the quarter-finals.”
Ancelotti warned his players before the game they needed to be at their best to progress, and showed his cautious side by playing four midfielders behind Bellingham and Vinicius.
The Italian brought Aurelien Tchouameni forward into defensive midfield, also deploying Eduardo Camavinga, Fede Valverde and Toni Kroos, as he looked to protect the 1-0 first-leg lead.
However, Ancelotti’s game plan stunted Madrid’s own attacking game without completely stifling Leipzig.
“It was not our best day, but we have to be happy because the objective is complete,” Madrid captain Nacho Fernandez told Movistar. “When things don’t go as you want, you have to battle, to fight, to play games like today’s that make you grow and learn.”
“If you add the 180 minutes up, we clearly had the better chances — I don’t know how they scored today,” Leipzig defender Benjamin Henrichs told DAZN. “We played so well and it’s so tough that we’re out.”
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