Man City: Season not a success even if we win the FA Cup, says Guardiola | OneFootball

Qualifying for next year’s Champions League will only absolve some of the pain of this year’s campaign

Pep Guardiola said that he will not consider Manchester City’s season a success even if he wins the FA Cup and qualifies for the Champions League.

Man City have endured an uncharacteristically difficult season, dipping as low as seventh in the Premier League and exiting the Champions League in the league phase playoffs. Their struggles are in stark contrast to seasons gone by, with City fresh off the back of an unprecedented four consecutive Premier League titles.

There is still some hope for silverware, though, as City are set to face Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final in May, but Guardiola said that winning the competition would not rectify their early-season struggles.

“It will not confuse that fact to qualify for the Champions League and win the FA Cup, all respect for Crystal Palace.”

Kylian Mbappe scored a second-leg hat trick to dump Man City out of the Champions League

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For Guardiola, who has won the FA Cup twice since joining City in 2016, Champions League disappointment stands out as City’s most glaring shortcoming. Victories over Sparta Prague, Club Brugge, and Slovan Bratislava could not cancel out defeats at the hands of Sporting CP, Juventus, and Paris Saint-Germain in the league phase, before the 2023 winners were ultimately eliminated in a play-off by Real Madrid.

Guardiola went on: “Look at the Champions League. We won one game, two games? We were always a machine in that.”

He committed to improving ahead of next season, though. After signing a contract extension through 2027 in November, he has ample time to right the ship.

“No need to confuse it, the season has not been good. But of course, the damage will be minor.

City have been linked to Nottingham Forest’s Morgan Gibbs-White ahead of the summer transfer window as a squad refresh looks likely, with club legend Kevin de Bruyne set to depart at the end of the season.