The Champions League doesn’t favour Guardiola. These are all his failures at the Citizens

Pep Guardiola is in his seventh season as Manchester City coach, but he still hasn’t won the Champions League. With a trophy eluding him since leaving Barcelona, let’s recap all his attempts with the Citizens.

2016/17 – Eighth Final – Monaco

Pep Guardiola’s first attempt after joining Manchester City. He came up against Monaco in the eighth-finals with the attacking duo of Kylian Mbappé – Falcao, who later had a dream season.

In an extremely attractive first match, the Citizens won 5: 3, only to lose 1: 3 in France and drop out in the eighth round.

2017/18 – Quarter-finals – Liverpool

Manchester City climbed through the gates of the eighth-finals at the second attempt, knocking out Basel, only to be given Liverpool in the quarter-finals, who were absolutely no match for them.

In the first duel at Anfield Road, the Reds won 3: 0 and beat Guardiola’s team in the rematch at the Etihad Stadium – 2: 1. Liverpool then reached the final, where they lost to Real Madrid.

2018/19 – Quarterfinals – Tottenham

An absolutely cruel elimination. Tottenham won the first leg on home soil 1: 0, but the rematch produced an extremely attractive spectacle. Sterling opened the scoring for the Citizens in the 4th minute, Son equalised in the 7th minute and added a second goal in the 10th minute. However, Bernardo Silva equalised in the 11th minute.

In the 21st minute Sterling sent the Citizens into the lead, but overall Spurs were still advancing thanks to more goals scored from outside the box. In the 59th minute, however, Aguero added the coveted goal and at that point the Citizens advanced. But in the 73rd minute, Llorente’s header reduced the deficit and Spurs were promoted again.

But in the 93rd minute Sterling put the ball in the net and sent the whole stadium into ecstasy thinking he had secured City’s progression. But VAR found a close offside and broke the hearts of all the Citizens fans. Tottenham also made it to the final, where they fell short to Liverpool.

2019/20 – Quarterfinals – Lyon

For the third time, Manchester City didn’t break the quarter-final curse either. In a unique covid edition where they played a single knockout match, the Citizens were beaten by French side Lyon. They were also clear favourites, only for Cornet Lyon to take the lead in the 24th minute.

It wasn’t until De Bruyne equalised in the 69th minute that the Citizens had further huge opportunities, Sterling for example missing an empty net. But it was Lyon who scored the winning goal in the 79th minute thanks to Dembélé, who added the insurance goal in the 87th minute to make it 3-1.

2020/21- Final – Chelsea

It’s finally here, now it has to come, Manchester City fans were saying to themselves as Pep Guardiola took his team all the way to the final. Along the way he knocked out Mönchengladbach, Dortmund and PSG, Chelsea were supposed to be the icing on the cake.

But Guardiola overplayed his hand, wanting to surprise his opponents so much with the line-up that it didn’t work at all and the Citizens lost to Chelsea 0:1.

2021/22 – Semi-final – Real Madrid

Last season, the Citizens were considered the favourites, they dominated the Premier League in fantastic fashion, brushed aside Sporting and Atlético Madrid in the Champions League and got Real Madrid in the semi-finals.

In the first leg City won 4: 3 at home, they could have won 8: 2, they had enough chances to do so, but they lacked productivity. In the rematch in Madrid, they were 1:0 up and still had a two-goal lead in the 90th minute. But then the magic of the Bernabéu worked, Real scored two goals in two minutes and sent the game into extra time, where Benzema decided the game.

Source: UEFA, Manchester City