City reached the last-four with a 1-1 draw at Bayern Munich after beating the German champions 3-0 at the Etihad Stadium.
The boss complimented his defence after restricting Bayern’s opportunities with their only goal over two legs coming from the penalty spot after an unfortunate handball awarded against Manuel Akanji.
“I’m so happy for three years in a row to be in the Champions League semi-finals,” Guardiola said. “To be honest, the result of 4-1 doesn’t show what was really in the two games from my point of view.
“I couldn’t expect anything different knowing how good they are, the physicality and ideas of Bayern Munich. I was impressed when I lived with them and I was impressed when I play against them.
“But in this competition it’s the details. Last season in the semi-final of the Champions League we lived the opposite part and in the right moments in these two games, we were there.
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“We were incredibly solid because we defended really well in the boxes and this is the area we have improved the most comparing to previous seasons.
“We controlled it better in the second half from minute one. The only regret is that we didn’t have more sequence of passes so we could finish quicker.
“But knowing the quality of our opponent, congratulations to all at Manchester City, thank you to our fans and now we rest and play on Saturday our FA cup semi-final [against Sheffield United].”
Our progress sets up a tantalising semi-final clash with current holders and 14-times winners Real Madrid.
It is the third time we will face the Spanish Club in the last-four of the competition and the second successive year after our late defeat last season at the Santiago Bernabeu.
And Guardiola believes that any team wanting to win the trophy will have to beat Real if they are to be successful.
“I heard that they have reached 11 semi-finals in 13 years – so hat’s off [to them]” he said. “We are three and what we have done is incredible to reach the Champions League semi-final.
“I think all the clubs in the world have the feeling if you want to win this competition you have to beat Real Madrid right now.
“Before it used to be Barcelona but now it’s Real Madrid.”
