With 45 minutes of our final league phase game gone against Brugge, City trailed 0-1 and were facing an early exit form a competition we won just over 18 months ago.
But three goals in the second-half gave the Blues a 3-1 win, and we will now take on either Real Madrid or Bayern Munich for the right to qualify for the Round of 16.
“We deserve it. We can do it better,” said Guardiola.
“I don’t know if they are happy to play us, but it is what it is. No complaints at all. Bayern or Madrid - one is the king of the competition; the other is the second or third king of the competition.
“The experience of the second leg there. What I want since the beginning of the season is to have the team back.
“I accept Rodri from the beginning but not the other ones. We play this competition with a thousand million problems.
“When we face Sporting with Ruben Amorim, they were at their best. Then we went to Juve. Feyenoord was a tough moment, 3-0 with 15 minutes left.
“That moment mentally was really tough - that moment I said if we arrive at the last game against Brugge with a chance to qualify we will sign right now.
“In the next two weeks, Ruben, Nathan, Jeremy, Oscar, new signings all come back. They are better than us right now, but we’ll see what happens in two weeks.”
Asked if he felt, in spite of the difficulties his team have faced so far and the tough matches to come, whether he believed City could go on and win the competition, the boss replied: “Not right now. I’m so pragmatic, the reality is the reality.
“They have more experience than us, Real have maybe struggled, but they are back in the last games they play.
“If we play tomorrow, it will be difficult but in two weeks we’ll see. We’re going to try it and see what happens.”