Guardiola: Watching brief offering extra motivation for Champions League qualification | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola says watching the latter stages of the Champions League has given him extra motivation to lead City to qualification for next season’s competition.

Guardiola has been a keen observer of the elite European competition since the Blues were eliminated at the Knockout Phase play-offs.

The manager spoke of how much he enjoyed the Aston Villa v Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund v Barcelona quarter-final games this past midweek.

But observing those exciting encounters also fired him up to be in the UCL in 2025/26.

He knows a top five finish in the Premier League guarantees that outcome as he gets set to lead his team into the final Goodison Park encounter with Everton on Saturday, with a 15:00 (UK) kick-off.

“I enjoy the games. They've been nice games,” he said of his watching brief.

“Tuesday in Villa Park was a fantastic game. Dortmund as well against Barcelona. They’ve been good games.

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“Enjoy it and miss it of course, except I'm a person I don’t complain much what life gives me in the good moments and especially not in the bad moments.

“This is sport, sometimes you don't perform well and don't deserve to be there.

“Hopefully next season we can be there with the big clubs in Europe and challenge them better than what we have this season.

“Challenge them like we have done in the last seven years like every season we were there. Even when we were out, we were competing well and keep going in that way.

“It's a motivation. It's not a bad thing to fight to qualify for the Champions League.”

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City have won the Premier League the last four seasons – a record-breaking achievement never seen before in English football.

But this term, the Blues are battling to finish in those Champions League places in the top five.

Rather than bemoan that change of circumstances, Guardiola is relishing the fight insisting we could actually have been a lot lower in the table had it not been for the recent resurgence.

“We could be in a very lower position in the Premier League if you have done few good things in the last four or five months,” he added.

“People say we are fourth now but could be 11, 12, 13 or 14. I have no doubts.

“Okay we've not been good, but it's in our hands.

“Goodison Park and Villa is massively important because it’s just six games, we don’t have much time.

“I know the qualification path at the Etihad and we know the games we have here and two away. First opportunity tomorrow in Liverpool.”