Manchester City are not ready to win the Champions League, insists Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has insisted that despite victory over Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabeu, his side are not ready to go all the way and win the UEFA Champions League.

City came from behind on Wednesday evening as a first-ever European goal for Nico O’Reilly and a penalty from Erling Haaland cancelled Rodrygo’s opener to give the Blues a massive boost for the competition as they close in on Round of 16 qualification.

Guardiola’s side sit handsomely in fourth place in the UEFA Champions League group-stage rankings and have momentum on their side after picking up a fourth successive win in all competitions at one of the most challenging venues in Europe.

The jury remains out on whether Manchester City, who are two points adrift of Arsenal in second place in the Premier League table, can sustain their challenge for a fifth league title in six seasons, being at an embryonic stage of their transition under sporting director Hugo Viana, who made sweeping changes to Guardiola’s squad in the summer transfer window.

However, City are getting the job done as a new-look dressing room finds its identity in thw backdrop of a worrying start to the 2025-26 campaign that left the Blues languishing in the bottom half of the league table.

Speaking with TNT Sports after the victory in the Spanish capital on Wednesday night, Guardiola was quizzed on his side’s performance against a Real Madrid side struggling for form and consistency under Xabi Alonso.

“Well, it could be better. Of course, winning in the Bernabeu is so difficult – four, five, six players playing their first game here,” said Guardiola.

“Maybe we’re not completely, completely ready to be playing in these stages, but it’s a process with a lot, a lot of new players. But winning here always we have to be happy, especially in terms of points, we have 13 already!

“So it’s in our hands to win games to finish in the top-eight, that is the target. And winning here after what happened (against) Leverkusen is good!”

However, when questioned on what the result says about Manchester City’s credentials for winning the entire competition come the end of the campaign, Guardiola added: “We are away, still we are not ready. Still not.

“The important is top-eight, but in February we’ll be better and of course when you play these kind of games, you are ready to go. We have been here in the past playing much better than today, and we lost, right?

“And games in Manchester where we played beyond (good), the game should be over, knock-out games should be over, at the end coming here is always difficult. I take it, the players made an incredible effort, incredibly good result, spirit is unbelievable, but still margin to improve!”

Beating Real Madrid will give any dressing room a fresh vial of confidence and after they reduced the gap to Arsenal at the top of the Premier League last week, Manchester City will be fearless as they embark upon a busy festive calendar in the coming weeks, starting with a trip to Selhurst Park on Sunday.