Guardiola has pinpointed this weekend’s opponents Brighton as well as Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Newcastle and Fulham as rivals in the race to make it into the elite European competition in 2025/26.
And the boss says he would view qualification as a ‘huge success’ with the way this current campaign has so far played out.
On the Seagulls being a contender, he told waiting media in his press conference: “And Bournemouth, Aston Villa, Newcastle, maybe Fulham will be there. Fantastic teams, so it’s not a surprise.
“I had the feeling they deserve to be there, they’re really good and consistent and have incredible weapons in the way they play.
“It’s a big fight and not like a disappointment to be here, it’s a challenge in that if we’re able to achieve that and qualify for the Champions League, it’d be a huge success from my point of view. For many things happen, it would be a huge success.
“I don’t have it like ‘oh we’re playing for that’ it’s completely the opposite.
“Sometimes there are seasons in life and in sport where you have to live that.
“It’s in our hands, it depends on us. We don’t have to recover eight or ten points to go there and wait for the opponent to lose many games, it’s just about us and depends on our behaviours and our football if we’re there or not.
“We have to reach the best level to qualify for Europe next season, definitely. We have to be consistent as much as possible.
“We know we have 10 games left, six at home and four away and at home we have tough games like Brighton, Aston Villa, Bournemouth. Most of the games are really, really tough.
“We have to do it better because there are many teams with this target and we miss an important chance last week.”
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This week has seen Real Madrid, PSG, Arsenal, Aston Villa, Barcelona, Bayern Munich, Inter and Borussia Dortmund progress through into the quarter-finals of the 2024/25 Champions League, a stage City have reached in the past seven seasons under Guardiola.
But rather than feeling frustration at not being there in the closing moments this time around, the manager is setting his sights on first qualifying and then making an impact in next season’s competition.
“No, it doesn’t hurt. I don’t have any disappointment or regret,” he added. “We don’t deserve to be there.
“It’s enjoy football for the fantastic games like was in Anfield or Paris, the competitiveness of Madrid and Atletico Madrid, how good Barcelona are playing all season since many, many months and the way they played 65-70 minutes against Benfica.
“I’m just a spectator to learn, see it and like enjoy it.
“Absolutely I am not feeling ‘it’s a pity we are not there’. There are teams in the last 16 who are out and in the first round, we lost against Madrid but then two weeks later incredible teams like Atletico, Benfica, imagine Liverpool, this competition is that.
“Look what happened with Atletico and Julian, the margins, can you imagine you’re out of the Champions League for that reason?
“They were brilliant at the Bernabeu and brilliant the way they played, their style against Madrid.
“But look at the decision and you’re judged the season good or bad for that.
“Liverpool made all the points in the group stage but then in the draw they play PSG. The best player in Paris was Alisson and the best player in Anfield was Donnarumma. How you judge that...in details and penalties.
“Liverpool made a fantastic game at Anfield as they always do, PSG made an incredible game in Paris, they suffered the first 15 minutes of each half and after for a little, you’re out of this competition.
“We suffered it in the past many, many times, nobody has to explain how special is this competition.
“But this season, we deserve to be in it so far. Hopefully we can do better, qualify for next season, do it better and be there on the pitch.”
