“It belongs to us” – Pep Guardiola sends rallying call to Manchester City squad after latest loss | OneFootball

Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has urged his squad to avoid overthinking on recent losses to Newcastle and Bayer Leverkusen and focus on what lies ahead of them.

City fell to a second defeat in the space of days as Bayer Leverkusen landed a blow in the Blues’ UEFA Champions League Round of 16 qualification hopes with an inspiring 2-0 win over Guardiola’s lacklustre side at the Etihad Stadium on Tuesday evening.

The eight-time Premier League champions entered the November international break with 11 wins in 14 games in all competitions but have lost ground in the Premier League title race and UEFA Champions League with back-to-back setbacks since Saturday.

A Harvey Barnes brace either side of a Ruben Dias leveller at St. James’ Park sealed Eddie Howe’s first league win over Guardiola at the weekend, with City dropping to third place in the Premier League table and Arsenal extending their lead at the top of the table to six points after putting Tottenham to the sword in a 4-1 north London derby win.

Guardiola responded to the defeat in Tyneside with 10 changes to his starting XI against Bayer Leverkusen, who added to City’s woes as goals from Alejandro Grimaldo and Patrik Schick either side of the interval inflicted the first European defeat of the 2025-26 campaign for the Blues.

City can ill-afford many more setbacks on the domestic and European fronts if they are to mount a serious challenge for the Premier League title and improve upon their disappointing Round of 16 finish in the UEFA Champions League from last season.

A home league meeting against Leeds United next awaits Manchester City, who can forego the title should they take anything less than three points against the Yorkshire outfit on Saturday – with Arsenal showing the kind of form City have so long been accustomed to in the early stages of their title-winning campaigns.

Quizzed upon a lengthy dressing-room conversation with his players after full-time against Leverkusen in an interview with TNT Sports, Guardiola said: “It belongs to us,” as a difficult test away at Real Madrid next awaits City in the UEFA Champions League group-phase.

The Manchester City manager put his hand up and accepted a major share of responsibility for his side’s lacklustre and toothless display against Leverkusen, making one change too many to a side in transition after undergoing a significant squad revamp in the summer.

“Now it’s don’t talk much, clean our heads, and go to (play against) Leeds,” the Catalan added in his post-match press conference, imploring his players to forget about the last four days and focus on what lies in front of them as they embark upon the final stretch of games in 2025.

Guardiola is likely to revert to his preferred and strongest starting XI on Saturday against Leeds, with the absence of Erling Haaland from City’s lineup against Leverkusen again underpinning an unhealthy over-reliance from the Blues on the Norway international.

Haaland did come on in the second-half along with Phil Foden and Rayan Cherki but it was too little, too late for the Blues to overturn a two-goal deficit against a well-drilled Leverkusen side that deserved all three points on the night at the Etihad Stadium.