Pep Guardiola has denied that Manchester City suffer from a mental block in the Champions League, instead insisting that their failure to progress beyond the quarter-finals under his management is entirely his fault.
In four seasons under Guardiola, City have reached the last eight three times and the last 16 once. Their campaign ended in a 3-1 quarter-final defeat to Lyon last season, following a 4-4 aggregate elimination by Tottenham on away goals in 2018-19, a 5-1 loss to Liverpool in 2017-18, and a 6-6 aggregate exit to Monaco on away goals the year before.
“I don’t think it’s mental… I felt so responsible for this, how the club and players fought to achieve it, and I was not able to drive them,” Guardiola said ahead of Wednesday’s opening group game against Porto. “It’s easy for the manager to say [blame the players]. I’m so responsible for this, I don’t blame any single players.”
City face Porto, Marseille and Olympiakos in Group C. Guardiola stressed the importance of winning home group matches, with Kevin De Bruyne, Gabriel Jesus, Benjamin Mendy and Aymeric Laporte ruled out through injury. “It’s vital to get the three points against Porto,” he said.
New signing Rúben Dias, who joined from Benfica for £62m, shrugged off any added pressure despite Laporte’s absence. “The higher you go the more pressure you have,” the centre-back said. “I like it and it is all good.”
