Guardiola admitted there was relief after our success in the 2022/23 competition after several seasons of trying to be crowned the Kings of Europe.
But the boss is adamant that City must be hungry to compete over the long haul with the likes of Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona and Inter Milan, who have won the prestigious trophy 28 times collectively, with tomorrow night’s opponents the most revered with 14 triumphs.
“First I would say as a club there was a sense of relief,” the boss revealed when discussing last season’s triumph in Istanbul with journalists.
“We made a lot of good things but always in the press conferences it was ‘you arrived seven years ago but you didn’t win the Champions League, you have to win the Champions League otherwise you would not complete [the job]’.
“Always I tried to reject it because this competition is so difficult.
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“I would say we are a little bit more than one decade flying in Europe. Before we did not fly in Europe.
“Now we are a club who face this type of competition with the best teams of the world. But it is no more than one decade and a decade is not enough.
“Even now, to compete again, is experience for the future of our club.
“People say ‘once we have won it, it’s done’ No. Absolutely not.
“It’s not like elite clubs like Real Madrid, Bayern Munich, Barcelona, Inter Milan, for example, the big, big clubs who for 40, 50, 60, 70 years play in this competition.
“We are, in terms of history, new.
“But we have a sense of ‘okay, we did it’. And of course if we did it once, we can do it again.”
Watch the manager’s press conference above.
