Pep Guardiola said that having to watch the Champions League’s closing moments from his couch rather than the sidelines gave him the drive to guide Manchester City to the tournament’s next round. Today, Guardiola’s squad takes on Everton in an attempt to place in the top five and earn a position in the UCL.

Guardiola described the quarterfinals of Europe’s top tournament as “a source of motivation.” “Hopefully, we’ll be able to compete with the major European clubs next season and outperform them,” he said.

With six games remaining, Guardiola’s team is in fifth place, only one point clear of Chelsea and Aston Villa. However, Guardiola acknowledged that, given his team’s sharp drop in performance this season, it might have been far worse.

Our current ranking is sixth, but it might be eleven, twelve, thirteen, or fourteen. I am certain. Okay, we haven’t performed well, but we can fix that,” the Spanish coach said.
Ederson, Nathan Aké, John Stones, and Erling Haaland are still out for City’s trip to Everton on Saturday. However, Phil Foden has recovered from an injury that kept him out of last weekend’s 5-2 victory against Crystal Palace, and they may welcome back Manuel Akanji for the first time in two months.