MANCHESTER, England — Pep Guardiola said he is convinced Manchester City will beat Club Brugge and book their place in the Champions League knockout rounds.
Guardiola’s team must win at the Etihad Stadium on Wednesday to secure a place in the top 24 of the league phase table. Anything less than victory will see City fail to reach the knockout for the first time since the 2012-13 season.
“I appreciate your concern for if we don’t qualify but I think we are going to do it,” Guardiola told a new conference on Tuesday.
“The situation that we have is that we have to win the game and if not we will not continue in this competition.
“We want to go though to have another chance to play another two games to have the chance of the next stages. It’s not a problem, it’s an opportunity.”
“Sooner or later you have to play them where if you win you go through and if you don’t you go out. We are here for the reasons we know that we have not been good enough and this is a situation we have lived many times.”
City are enduring a difficult season by their own standards, but head into the game against Club Brugge on the back of an impressive 3-1 win over Chelsea in the Premier League on Saturday.
“It’s obviously a final for us,” defender Josko Gvardiol said. “We want to qualify for the next stage and our confidence is very good, especially after the last game [against Chelsea].
“They are a good team, there is a reason they are here in the Champions League and it is not going to be easy.”
