Pep Guardiola explains Manchester City’s Champions League failures over the years | OneFootball

Pep Guardiola has cited former Real Madrid manager Carlo Ancelotti as a key reason for Manchester City’s UEFA Champions League setbacks over the years.

Ancelotti has recently been appointed the Brazil National Team manager as Xabi Alonso took over from his former Santiago Bernabeu coach to launch a new managerial era in the Spanish capital ahead of the 2025-26 campaign.

Manchester City have faced Real Madrid in the knockout stages of the UEFA Champions League five times in the last six seasons, winning on two occasions and crashing out thrice at the hands of the most successful European club of all time.

City knocked out Ancelotti’s side with a 5-1 aggregate beating over two legs in the 2023 semi-final en route to their premier UEFA Champions League title. However, the Blues have been knocked out by Madrid in the two years since.

Speaking to Reuters in an interview this week, Guardiola congratulated Ancelotti on his new gig but let a sigh of relief after years of coming up short against the Italian manager in the UEFA Champions League.

“I’m so happy for him (Ancelotti),” Guardiola said. “But I’m so happy that he’s not in Madrid anymore because all the time he beats me. That I don’t have to handle it anymore.”

Manchester City could be set to meet their favourite enemies under Alonso in the upcoming FIFA Club World Cup, with Guardiola and co set to travel to the United States in a week to begin their preparations for the 2025-26 campaign.

It’s been a long and difficult year for Guardiola, who has admitted that the 2024-25 season has been the most difficult of his managerial career. “I won 12 domestic leagues in 16 years,” the 54-year-old added.

“It’s not bad, I would say. But you cannot win all the time. I cannot win the Champions League all the time,” he added, underpinning Manchester City’s achievements over the years as something that was eventually going to witness an inevitable halt.

“Michael Jordan, the best athlete I’ve ever seen in my life won six NBA Championships in 15 years. Tiger Woods, one incredible golf player, Jack Nicklaus, I don’t know how many he has. But they lost more Grand Slams than they won. It happens.”

On his plans to rest and recover between now and the Club World Cup, Guardiola said: “Wake up later and don’t be with the players. Try to live what would be a normal life. Go to a concert, lay down on the sofa, read books.

“I can play golf when my body allows me. Watch series that people suggest to me during the season to watch, like I’m not able to do. And I want to tell you something. Usually, I’m going to do the same things as you do in your life.”