Champions League qualification or FA Cup win will not save Manchester City’s season insists Pep Guardiola | OneFootball

Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola has insisted that qualification for the Champions League next season will still not save the club’s poor campaign.

That belief emerged in light of the club’s dramatic 2-1 win over Aston Villa in the Premier League on Tuesday night, handing the Etihad side a mammoth three points against a direct competitor for the top-five places in the division.

Bernardo Silva’s opener was cancelled out by a Marcus Rashford penalty in the first-half, before a strike from right-back Matheus Nunes to convert an excellent Jeremy Doku cross just 90 seconds from full-time secured the victory.

It was the latest drama in a rollercoaster season for the four-in-a-row Premier League champions, having struggled with a significant drop-off from their successive history-defining campaigns of previous years largely owing to fitness and injury problems.

And speaking to broadcasters after City’s dramatic 2-1 win over Aston Villa on Tuesday night, manager Pep Guardiola was keen to insist upon the disappointment of the season as a whole despite the highs of the evening thanks to a last-minute Nunes goal.

“The season has been bad. The season has not been good, it doesn’t matter if we reach the final [of the FA Cup], have an incredible time against Nottingham Forest, or qualify for the Champions League,” Guardiola stressed.

“The reality is what makes you feel the season is good is the Premier League, not the Champions League, FA Cups, it is the consistency in the Premier League and we have not been [consistent]. But, it happens.”

Pep Guardiola continued, “Sometimes you have bad seasons for many reasons that everybody knows. Until the end you try to limit the damage.”

Discussing the game itself and the dramatics of winning a mammoth contest against a top-five challenger so late, Guardiola said, “I’m really happy for the goal we scored at the end.

“Aston Villa is a team in the last month, proved they are one of the best teams in Europe. Football is emotion. The last two games were so, so difficult. The players played unbelievable. I was so happy.”

Manchester City’s attentions now rapidly turn to a rare alternate competition this season as they make their second visit to Wembley Stadium this season for the semi-finals of the FA Cup on Sunday afternoon.

It follows a Community Shield win over Manchester United prior to the start of the Premier League campaign last August, with Nottingham Forest the challengers in the capital this weekend as Aston Villa face Crystal Palace in the other semi-final on Saturday.