One more year HE Manchester City meets the tough challenge Championscompetition from season to season. Even Pep Guardiola’s presence on the bench hasn’t brought a victory to a team that suffered a serious setback in the semi-finals against Madrid last year. Now, with the Catalan coach on the bench, he’s chasing the quarter-finals pass, a round he hasn’t missed a single time since his elimination in the round of 16 in 2017.

It’s been six years since the fiasco against Monaco and City. scary set. He is keeping his options in Premier and aims to reach the top in Europe for sure. Leipzig, where they drew in the first match in Germany (1-1), became the first hurdle to enter the top eight. One win is all it takes for the English team to be drawn in a round that includes Milan, Bayern, Chelsea and Benfica in Nyon on Friday.

Pep’s realism

“I don’t want to say I agree, but I’m sure my time here will be judged by the Champions League,” Guardiola said before facing the German team. Now, City’s climax was their last game to lose against him in 2021 chelsea. His team is second in the league, five points behind Arsenal and in the quarterfinals of the FA Cup.

“It is very important to keep the three tournaments until the end,” said Guardiola, who hopes to have a great game at home. “The Champions League is a very valuable, very good competition. We need to establish ourselves in front of our people and win the match. you just have to winEnding headlines this weekend like Mahrez, who played De Bruyne, Walker and Foden for his starting lineup, the coach has been very inspired by recent encounters.

History in Porto

Erling Haland will be reference of the city. The Norwegian player, awaited by Croatian Gvardiol, has scored 28 goals in the Premier League and 5 goals in the Champions League, which are excellent numbers that reinforce his importance. With the important defeat of the French Nkunku, Lepizig took third place in the Bundesliga, beating Mönchengladbach (3-0) in his last match.

Meanwhile in Porto, the Portuguese club will try to come back 1-0 in the first match against Inter.. Lukaku’s goal in the 86th minute gives the Italian team a small advantage, which has not played in the quarter-finals of the Champions League since 2011. Both teams are second in their leagues but far from the leaders: Portugal are eight points behind Benfica and the black blues are 18th from Napoli.