Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola maintains that the current favorite in the UEFA Championa League are the holders, Bayern Munich. At the same time, he understands why his side is considered the foront-runner right now, after they won their 19th-straight game, across all competitions on Wednesday.
City posted a 2-0 first leg win over Borussia Monchengladbach tonight in the Champions League Round of 16. City have yet to reach a UCL final and Guardiola has yet to lead them past the quarterfinals.
They’ve been ousted in that specific round of the European Cup the past three tournaments. .
“In Champions League, many things happen,” Guardiola said to the media after the game.
“It’s not 4-0, 5-0, it’s 0-2…When I see Bayern Munich I don’t think we are favorites. My target is West Ham in three days. If people say we are favorites we have to accept it, but a team who in their whole history has been a semi-final once? Okay, they say it, we have to accept it.”
Pep won it all in Europe as a player with Barcelona and then twice again as a manager, so he has the CV which conveys just how much he knows what it takes to get it done. However, he’s right that if you want to be the champs, you got to beat the champs, and Bayern certainly look every as formidable right now as they did in last season’s competition.
If City are going to get consecutive win number 20, they’ll have to beat a West Ham United side that is very surprising. The Hammers are in the top four race to stay, so the men of David Moyes will be extra motivated for this one.
Paul M. Banks runs The Sports Bank, partnered with News Now. Banks, the author of “No, I Can’t Get You Free Tickets: Lessons Learned From a Life in the Sports Media Industry,” has regularly appeared in WGN, Sports Illustrated, Chicago Tribune and SB Nation. Follow him on Twitter and Instagram.