We Are Well-respected, Pep Guardiola Says After Leading Man City To 7th UCL Quarter-Finals

The manager of Manchester City, Pep Guardiola, has stressed that his side are now one of the powerhouses in European football after leading the club to seven UEFA Champions League quarter-finals in a row.

Since Pep Guardiola became the manager of Manchester City in 2016, the Premier League side has been a regular in the UEFA Champions League knockout stages.

Since 2016, Manchester City have never crashed out of the Champions League campaign in the round of 16. They have virtually become a team to beat in every season.

In the 2020-2021 season, they reached the UEFA Champions League final, where they lost 1-0 to Chelsea. The following season, they lost to Real Madrid in the semi-final stage of the Champions League.

Pep Guardiola finally led Manchester City to the peak of the UEFA Champions League when they defeated Inter Milan to win the 2022-2023 UEFA Champions League campaign for the first time in the history of the club.

They have been so good in the 2023-2024 season that it is believed that they might successfully defend the Champions League title.

The reigning champions thrashed Copenhagen 6-2 on aggregate on Wednesday, March 6, 2024, to qualify for the quarter-final stage of the campaign.

After the game, Pep Guardiola said, “The important thing is being there (in the quarter-finals) seven years in a row, it’s quite impressive.

“We are well-respected by 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, and our hierarchy, so credit to them for accepting the process. Now we are a team that believes we can do it.”