Pep Guardiola reveals why he said that City aren’t ready to win the Champions League

Manchester City face a testing trip in the Champions League when they go head-to-head with Shakhtar Donetsk on Tuesday evening. Pep Guardiola's side needed a late goal to squeeze past Hoffenheim last time out in this competition and the men from Manchester will have to be at their best when they meet Paulo Fonseca's charges. Ahead of the game Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola has spoken out to the press. Are De Bruyne, Mendy and Walker fit? If they are here, they are ready. How significant is having players who aren't playing internationally? You never know. Laporte sooner or later will be selected, it’s difficult to find a better left central defender in the world. We never push them to retire or say no to their national teams. It is what it is. We cannot deny that players who are 32, 33 to have ten days off is good for their minds but the other side to play World Cups and European Cups is good for them. They [Silva and Fernandinho] have 2 more years contract but they have to think day by day, month by month and then ask themselves at the end of the season if they are still ready to play. My advice then is to play, you have to play. How do you assess City's start to the season? Has there been a change in attitude? It’s quite good. We have to realise where we’ve come from. I don’t have many complaits. Even the games we dropped points we played well. Apart from the first 45 minutes against Lyon. When you see them every single day, just to watch the players and that is the best demonstration that they still enjoy football. How impressive is Fernandinho? Fernandinho for every manager in the world, he helps to make them the luckiest managers in the world. Everything is respected in the team, he respects every day in training. He is open to improving. He is a joy and will always be a special person for me as a manager to work alongside him. What did you tell the players after Lyon? Learn from that. When you play an entire season the Champions League level is higher. So work. It looks easy, it is not. When you win games with a big result it is not easy. So learn, you have 15 points still to play for and to compete in the competition you have to live it. All we can do is learn and try to avoid it in the future. Why did you say City aren't ready to win the Champions League? I was born in Barcelona and grew up there. When I started the only way to survive is to win. But I also learned when you don’t win life goes on and you have another chance. What I saw in my team last season, honestly I think we are not ready. That’s what I feel. That doesn’t mean we won’t try, but to win the competition it’s not enough to want to win it. You have to have the experience. Every game we will learn. You have to desire, the club, the chairman, the owner, the fans, the media. Everyone has to be in it. When that happens, to win this kind of title you have to be pushed from everybody surrounding Man City and still we don’t have that feeling. The fans push you to win the Champions League. When that happens you are closer. We are a good team, you can’t deny that, but you need something special we don’t have that. Maybe in the future. Sooner or later we will be closer every year. Hopefully as soon as possible.

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