Walker: We suffered a lot in the Champions League, but we learned our lesson. I hope this is the icing on the cake

The Champions League is still cursed for Manchester City. Even six attempts under Pep Guardiola were not enough to win the coveted trophy. However, Kyle Walker believes the Citizens have learned their lesson and will not miss out on the club’s most prestigious trophy this time around.

Monaco, Liverpool, Tottenham, Lyon, Chelsea and Real Madrid. These are the teams Manchester City have fallen out with since Pep Guardiola took over.

Now the Citizens have a seventh chance and have reached the semi-finals for the third time in a row. The first time was the final, where they fell short to Chelsea, but last year came a collapse in the final minutes at the Santiago Bernabéu.

The Citizens’ elimination was often not deserved, Pep Guardiola’s team may have been qualitatively better, but in the long run they have not mastered the key moments.

Against Tottenham, for example, Raheem Sterling scored the winning and advancing goal in the last minute of stoppage time, but the goal was called off by VAR.

“I would have loved to win the Champions League when we played Chelsea in 2021, but it was a learning process. To get to the final then and not put in a good performance was difficult. We owe it to ourselves to get a rematch because we were below average then,” said Kyle Walker at the press conference.

“I remember Tottenham 2019 when we thought Raheem had shot up the standings. We have been through tough moments but I hope this is the icing on the cake to put our name in the history books and put this club on the Champions League map,” Walker believes.

Manchester City have had a historic week so far. They can reach the Champions League final for the second time in their history on Wednesday and secure a third successive league title with a win over Chelsea at the weekend.

Source: UEFA, Manchester City